Your Star
by Eulalie Kyouma
Summary: [Highschool AU] Gilbert saw every human being as simple. Almost every person on earth was comparable to a celebrity. The fact that Gilbert had come to realize was that people inherently strove for fame. Every person molded themselves after their idol, if you could figure out who their idols were, you could figure out every little thing about that person. But not Matthew Williams.
1. Prologue: Introductions

"YOU!"  
Matthew spun round to see a finger pointing directly between his eyes. This was more than a little strange for Matthew, he was never normally spotted by anyone in this god awful high school.  
"PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR SPOTLIGHT STOLEN ALFRED JONES!" The kid cackled and Matthew sighed, this was always happening. It wasn't a normal day in his high school life until he was mistaken for his star quarterback twin brother.  
"Actually…I'm Matthew…" Matthew sighed, looking away from the white haired kid and back down at his book. "Alfred is my brother…He's probably at football practice or something…"  
"Who? Wait you're not Alfred? Shit." The white haired kid sighed and plunked himself down in the chair next to Matthew. "So who are you?"

"Matthew."

"What?"

"Matthew!"

"I'll call you syrup." He grinned at Matt.  
"S-Syrup…?"  
"Yeah. Your hair is kinda like…syrupy coloured. And I'm not sure if it's coming from you but I totally smell maple syrup!"  
Matthew was beginning to think this kid wasn't the brightest.

"Kid. Aren't you guna like…freak out?" Gilbert leaned back in his chair with a smirk.  
"Why…? Because you're albino? I've seen an albino before." Matthew said softly.  
"Hey albinos are freaking AWESOME! But no…If you haven't noticed. I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt." Gilbert smirked, waiting for Matthew's reaction.  
"Alright. I'm Matthew Williams."  
Gilbert blinked a few times as Matthew went back to reading his book. Matthew came to the library during his lunches for peace and quiet. This new kid was not making things easy for him.  
"You've…never heard of me?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow.  
"Uhm…I don't think so. You did say you were new here. I don't really like to get into other peoples business." Matthew said quietly, not looking up from his book.  
"Oh. Sorry for bugging you with my awesomeness there syrup. I'll go now." Gilbert grinned and sprang up to leave. Matthew sighed, well that was weird. The name Beilschimidt did sound familiar, but he didn't really know or care why. Matthew had always stuck to himself. He never had many friends except for his brother and people who were close enough with his brother to tell them apart. He had even taken a different last name than Alfred to stop people getting confused between them. Alfred had taken their Dad's last name, Matthew took their Mom's, making them Alfred Jones and Matthew Williams. Yet people were still constantly unable to tell the difference. Matthew didn't care too much. But sometimes he thought it would be nice to have at least one friend…

This was it. Today was Gilbert's first day in a new high school in a new city. It was senior year and he was going to make the most of it. He had just moved from Germany with his whole family to New York. Back in Germany they were pretty famous. His mom was a singer, his dad a powerful business executive. Even his little brother Ludwig was in the spotlight. He was an absolute genius, athletic, good looking, on the road to serious success in pretty much every department. And then there was Gilbert. Not particularly smart, not overly good looking, no over whelming talent of any kind. He was often forgotten about, which wasn't fair at all, He was freaking awesome after all!  
As Gilbert stepped into the halls of his new school, he remembered the parting words of his 2 best friends, Francis and Antonio.

"_Now remember amigo. Go in there, find the most popular person and be better than him."  
"He's not going to prison Toni! Mon cher you must befriend the popular people! Talk to them about something cool like fashion!" _

Gilbert chuckled to himself, making friends was so not awesome. He had to outshine the most popular person in the school. Then he would get noticed. Gilbert was going to be the biggest star in New York. He was too awesome not to be.  
"You there! Who is the most popular person in this joint?" Gilbert grabbed a little Italian kid with a ridiculous curl sticking out of the side of his head.  
"Oh! Alfred Jones! He's so cool! He's a senior and the quarterback and all of the cheerleaders love him and sometimes he shares his lunch with me and he's really funny and nice and loud! He disappears sometimes and no one really knows where he goes but that's ok he must just want to get away from all of the cheerleaders! Hey are you new here? I'm Feliciano! But my friends call me Feli! Do you wana be my friend? What's your name!?" Feli grinned.  
"I'm awesome Gilbert! Where can I find Alfred?"  
"Alfred? I think I saw him in the library…He's got glasses and blondish hair and blue eyes and always wears this weird bomber jacket thingy! He says he wears it because 'freedom'! Whatever that means!"  
Without another word Gilbert headed to the library, he quickly spotted the person Feli had described and went over to him.  
"YOU!" He pointed at the kid, he looked up and Gilbert immediately noticed that this kid had a violet tint to his eyes. They weren't blue. Maybe Feli made a mistake. This had to be him.  
"PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR SPOTLIGHT STOLEN ALFRED JONES!" It was then that Gilbert noticed that the kid was wearing a dull blue hoodie with a maple leaf on it, not a bomber jacket.  
The kid just sighed and explained he wasn't Alfred, but his brother. Gilbert collapsed into the chair next to him. Fuck. He'd picked the quietest kid probably in the whole school, this was not at all going to get him famous.

"I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt!" Gilbert grinned, figuring he might as well start spreading his name around somewhere.  
"Alright. I'm Matthew Williams." That's all Matthew said before going back to reading his book. Gilbert was in shock, normally people didn't know who he was but 90% of people knew the name Beilschmidt. But this kid didn't. He was different; Gilbert smiled a little, said goodbye and left. He had met someone who wasn't in love with his brother.  
"Matthew Williams huh…" Gilbert murmured to himself as he left the library.

* * *

**My note to you:  
Hello Hello!  
Thank you for reading this. This is the first work I've posted using this account and I'll have updates for you as fast as I can. I hope you like it and I hope you stick around for it to get interesting! Please review if you liked it and such... I'll have other stories up soon as well.  
See ya friends!**


	2. 1 - Look at Me

Gilbert walked through the cafeteria looking for a place to sit. It was only his second day at this school so he hadn't yet decided who was awesome enough to sit with him. He noticed a crowd forming around the table in the middle of the cafeteria and grinned, perfect spot for him to get noticed! As he walked over he started plotting how he would steal the spotlight. Start a food fight? Make out with a cheerleader? Or of course he could just be his awesome self...

His shoulders slumped as he saw what people were crowding around. There was his brother, Ludwig, sitting at the table eating his lunch with that annoying Italian kid Feli, while people swarmed around him asking him to be their friend or to sign their binders. Ludwig had developed a special skill of just ignoring them. Gilbert kicked the leg of the table and began to wander through the halls. This was so unfair! Why was Ludwig more important than him!? And why didn't Ludwig seem to care!?  
"Stupid little bruder…I'm more awesome than him…what's his deal anyways...if I were that popular I'd be putting it to good use..." Gilbert grumbled to himself, trying to think of a way to be better than Ludwig. His thought process halted when he saw Matthew, reading his book in the stairwell, Gilbert immediately grinned, he didn't realize he had grinned so instinctively at the time but then again Gilbert wasn't exactly known for his keen observation skills.  
"Well if it isn't syrup!"  
"Oh. H-Hi…" Matthew blushed upon seeing Gilbert.  
"Hey speak up. I know I'm awesome but you don't need to be silenced by it!" Gilbert cackled. "What're you doing all the way back here syrup?"  
"Just…reading." Matthew shrugged  
"What? Don't you wana go get an autograph from Luddie?" Gilbert rolled his eyes.  
"Oh yeah…I heard some famous guy is in grade 11 here now…" Matthew muttered, still attempting to focus on the book he was reading. He wasn't expecting someone like Gilbert to talk to him for very long anyways. Gilbert scoffed.  
"Yeah. He's only supposed to be in Grade 9. He skipped 2 years because he's a genius or something...and he's still freaking taller than me..."  
"…You know him?"  
"Duh. He's mein little bruder…" Gilbert sighed heavily, leaning against the wall. Matthew took that as a signal to put his book down, looks like Gilbert did intend to stick around for a bit. "Have you seriously never heard of my family?"  
"I uhm…I don't really like getting involved in all that celebrity business…there's so much drama. Famous people don't bother noticing normal people like me, so why should I take time to notice them…" Matthew shrugged a little, like he knew his opinion didn't really matter to anyone.  
"The drama is the best part, syrup! Ever heard of Holy?" Gilbert looked at Matthew, there were those purple eyes again. They were pretty awesome...and this was coming from someone with red eyes.  
"That like…actress and singer?"  
"Yup. Her real name is Holy Romancia Beilschmidt. But now she's just Holy. Pop sensation and…my mom." Gilbert didn't seem too proud of that fact.  
"Huh. Sorry if I don't sound impressed…I just really don't know much about celebrities." Matthew shrugged again; Gilbert didn't know how anyone could not love the idea of being famous. Being famous was everything to Gilbert; the only thing he wanted out of life was for everyone to know who he was. He didn't care too much about being rich, he just wanted everyone to know how awesome he was. He couldn't stand it when people didn't know who he was. He was loud, albino, awesome, funny…but somehow no one knew him.

"Celebrities suck! It's heros that are the great ones dude!" Gilbert looked up to see another version of Matthew sliding down the stair railing before jumping off in front of them. Gilbert had to admit it was a pretty grand entrance. He had a shorter blond kid following after him, looking pissed off.  
"You really should stop doing that you wanker. I swear you're going to bloody hurt yourself one day and when you do I'll be laughing my arse off at you." He grumbled at Alfred, Matthew just giggled.

"Hey Alfred, Hey Arthur…"  
"Hey dude! Mattie you really should come sit with me at lunch sometime! You always seem so lonely back here bro!" Alfred spoke loudly. So this was the Alfred guy who was supposedly the most popular person in the school. He could see how he had gotten him and Matthew confused. They were absolutely identical. The only difference was Alfred's cowlick as opposed to Matthew's stray curl.  
"Well he has awesome me to keep him company now!" Gilbert cackled, slapping Matt on the back.  
"I'm sure he's simply overjoyed to have you…" Arthur rolled his eyes. "Alfred come on…you promised." Arthur tugged on the sleeve of Alfred's bomber jacket, signifying they had to leave.  
"Oh! Right! Gotta go guys!" Alfred spun on his heel to leave. Gilbert quickly grabbed him.  
"Wait! How are you so happy! My brother has stolen your spotlight! Aren't you angry? Don't you want to be popular again?" Gilbert asked, desperate to learn Alfred's secret to being a star in this school. Alfred simply grinned.  
"I'm the hero! Hero's don't need recognition. Besides…" Alfred glanced back at Arthur, "It's nice to be under the radar for once…I'll see you around…Gilbert right?" Alfred patted the albino's shoulder before running off with Arthur. Gilbert slumped onto the stairs next to Matthew with a sigh.  
"What's up with his whole hero thing? Hero's aren't awesome."  
"They are to Alfred. Ever since he was little he's been obsessed with saving people…not sure why. He even goes on and on about how he 'saved' Arthur. I don't know what he's talking about half the time but…I still listen. Maybe it's like your obsession with fame." Matthew smirked at Gilbert. So he was quiet but had sass, Gilbert's kind of person.  
This was weird for Matthew; he'd never really had a friend before. If you could even call Gilbert a friend...  
"I'm not obsessed with fame! That would be so…not awesome!" Gilbert scowled as the bell rang for their last class. Gilbert groaned and pulled out his schedule, it was only his 2nd day at this school and he had no idea how to get around.  
"Hey syrup. Where's the drama studio?"  
Matthew rolled his eyes, "We have drama together remember? I can walk with you if you want…" Matthew shoved his book in his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.  
"Oh yeah! Thanks syrup! You're just so quiet in that class I kinda forgot you were there!" Gilbert laughed and followed Matt. "Hey! You're Canadian!? That's so awesome! No wonder I thought you smelled like maple syrup!" Gil grinned, pointing to Matthew's bag which had a red maple leaf on it.  
"Oh…y-yeah…well…I've never really been to Canada, just Niagara falls. But…it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen so…I guess I just decided I was Canadian…" Matthew blushed a little, he'd never really talked to anyone about that before.  
They got to the drama studio and Gilbert sat in the middle of the carpet as he usually did and Matthew sat in the corner. Gilbert loved drama more than any of his other lame classes; it was his chance to be the center of attention. Everyone loved him in drama class and everyone's eyes were on him. It was awesome.  
"Alright class, we'll just be continuing reading through _As You Like It_. We left off at act 2 scene 7… Gilbert? Will you continue as Jacques?" The teacher said as student's pulled out their copies of As You Like It. Gilbert grinned and barely even had to look at the pages as he recited the lines:

_"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow…"_

As Gilbert read his lines he found himself repeatedly glancing over at Matthew, everyone seemed to be captivated by his performance. No one could look away from Gilbert as he recited his lines with the utmost fluidity and finesse. Yet Matthew simply sat, reading along from the copy of the play in his hands, never once looking up at Gilbert as he read. _Why._ Why out of everyone at this school, why was Matthew, who no one noticed, the one to never notice Gilbert. It was one thing, him not knowing who Ludwig was. It was another for him not to care that his mother was an idol. But this was what managed to bother Gilbert the most, why was Matthew, sat with his head down, unable to care about how awesome Gilbert was. Gilbert felt like screaming, he had known Matthew for 2 days and couldn't figure him out. Gilbert saw every human being as simple. Almost every person on earth was comparable to a celebrity. The unavoidable fact that Gilbert had come to realize was that people inherently strove for fame. Every person molded themselves after their idol, if you could figure out who their idols were, you could figure out every little thing about that person. But not Matthew. Matthew wasn't some cloned wannabe of a famous actor or singer or author or even scientist. Matthew shared no consistent traits with any celebrity in Gilbert's database. Matthew was just Matthew. And it drove Gilbert insane. Matthew, within two days had managed to break every idealism Gilbert had of how humanity worked. It completely ruined every tactic he had of getting famous. Within two days Matthew had begun to unravel Gilbert. Within two days, Matthew had Gilbert questioning every value he had. How could Matthew go so willingly unnoticed? How could Matthew not care about fame to any degree? All he had to do was look at him. If Matthew looked at Gilbert just once, everything would be ok. Gilbert's ideals would be saved and he would never have to spare another thought for Matthew again. If he just looked at him for one second.

_C'mon look at me Syrup…Just look at me._

* * *

**My note to you:  
Hey guys. Me again. I know what you're thinking: That was a hella fast update.  
Yep. I normally have my stories mostly pre-written. It's just a matter of editing them before actually being bothered enough to publish them.  
Anyways...  
Yay new characters! We got to see a bit of Alfred and Arthur...I wonder what's going on there...  
We'll see how things go and I may even give Alfred and Arthur their own special little USUK side chapter...  
Hmmm.  
Back on topic. Hope you're still liking it so far!  
The next chapter will most likely be up tomorrow or even later tonight. It's quite a bit longer than the last 2 chapters and we'll get to see Francis and Antonio! Yay! There's also going to be a good chunk of Gilbert and Matthew bonding time. So look forward to that.  
Adios! **


	3. 2 - Practice

2 weeks of going to school in New York and Gilbert still wasn't famous. This was taking longer than he expected it to.

"It takes longer than 2 weeks to get famous mon cher…" Francis sighed. Gilbert had been Skyping Francis and Antonio almost everyday since he'd moved. They were his only friends and means of advice after all. Not to mention they were capable of handling how awesome Gil was.

"Franny's right Gil. You just have to keep being awesome! That's all!" Antonio grinned.  
"Mon dieu Antoine! Don't call me Franny!"  
"Well stop speaking in French randomly."  
"Tu es un petit merde…"  
"I don't know what that means but I'm taking it as a compliment!" Antonio smirked.

"Would you guys pay attention!" Gilbert laughed at his friends bickering on his laptop screen. "We're trying to figure out a way of making me the most awesome star in the world!"  
"Oui…have you tried leaking a sex tape?" Francis raised an eyebrow.  
"Franny he's not leaking a sex tape." Antonio sighed.  
"No no Franny might be onto something! A sex tape!" Gilbert grinned.  
"You can't be serious Gil…" Antonio groaned.  
"It will probably be more shocking if it's with a guy. But a girl will do too…" Francis pondered, running his fingers through his long blond hair.  
"Maybe we should save the tape until I'm famous enough to get another famous person to sleep with me. I mean could probably get one now because I'm awesome but y'know…" Gilbert trailed off.  
"Of course mi amigo…of course." Antonio laughed.  
"I've got it! What if I release the contents of my diary!" Gilbert cackled.  
"You have a diary…?" Francis chuckled.  
"Isn't that what teenage girls do?" Antonio snickered.  
"Nein! It's what _awesome_ people do!" Gilbert smirked when he heard the doorbell ring. "Oh I gotta go!"  
"You seem excited! Is it a date?" Antonio teased. Gilbert blushed.  
"N-Nein! I have a homework assignment to do with some kid from my drama class…we're working on it this weekend!"  
"Ooh la la! Mon cher you are in love~!" Francis sang, anything to do with the subject of love excited him way too much.  
"Psh! Love, no way! That is so not awesome! I'll talk to you guys later!"  
"Send mon amour to your daaaaaaat-" Gilbert cut Francis off by closing his laptop right as Matthew walked into his room.  
"H-Hi."  
"Mein bruder let you in?" Gilbert yawned.  
"Yeah…I can't believe you live in a penthouse…"  
"What did you expect?" Gilbert shrugged, "My family is rich and famous. So. What are we doing again?" Matthew knelt down on the floor and pulled a binder and a pen out of his bag.  
"We have to w-" Matthew was cut off by Gilbert's cackling.  
"What are you wearing?" Gilbert laughed, he realized Matthew was wearing a fuzzy white sweater with a polar bear on it. Matthew went bright red and tried to cross his arms over it as Gilbert laughed.  
"I-It's…it's a p-polar bear…" Matthew stammered.  
"It's ridiculous!" Gilbert laughed and Matthew turned an even darker shade of red.  
"I-I like p-polar bears…!" Matthew squeaked. Gilbert calmed himself down and sat on the floor with Matthew.  
"I'm just kidding syrup. Your sweater is awesome. Not as awesome as me of course but I still like it." He grinned, trying to get Matthew to a more human skin tone.  
"L-Liar…" Matthew whispered.  
"Psh. Lying isn't at all awesome. Unless you lie about something awesome. Now let's work on getting you to be able to actually read lines like a normal human."  
"I'm not good at drama…" Matthew sighed.  
"Everyone is good at drama! Not everyone can be as awesome as me so maybe you should set your standards a little lower…but I'm sure you'll do ok!"  
Matthew wasn't aware that Gilbert could care about anything other than making himself look good.  
"Why would you help me with this?"  
"Because the teacher stuck your ass with me so if you look good, I look good. And if I look good then the faster I can become a star!" Nevermind, He really was just trying to help himself out here.  
"We are going to have the most awesome performance in the whole damn school! I'm making sure of it!" Gilbert declared.  
"Alright then…whatever you say…" Matthew sighed; he really wasn't looking forward to whatever rigorous acting training Gilbert had in store for him.

"Alright syrup! I've already written our monologues for us! Now you just gotta learn your part!" Gilbert flopped back onto his bed.  
"Wait…y-you wrote them? When?!" Matthew sprang up, they had only gotten the assignments yesterday and they had 3 weeks to work on them!  
"It's all up here! I have awesome idea syrup! I've been having them since I was little! I picked the best one that will surely get us 100% and all of the fame in the school if we do it right!" Gilbert tapped his forehead.  
"Wait…you haven't actually written this down yet…?" Matthew raised an eyebrow.  
"Nope. I'm way too awesome for scripts. That's what I have you for! Duh! SO! We start off in complete darkness…then a single spotlight falls on me!" Gilbert stood on his bed, looking down at Matthew; he placed a hand on his heart and began to dramatically recite lines from his head. "I start to talk about how I was a Prussian commander during World War 2 an-" Matthew cut Gilbert off.  
"Gil. You do realize that our skit has to be a modernized version of a Shakespeare play…right?" Matthew sighed.  
"Hey! I'm getting to it! This is based off of The Merchant of Venice!"  
"The Merchant of Venice? Are you serious?"  
"Of course I'm serious! Seriously awesome… Don't you know the line _'__But love is blind, and lovers cannot see The pretty follies that themselves commit.'_? It's pretty much based off of that!"  
"A-and we can pull it off with just the two of us? You're sure about that?" Mathew bit at one of his fingernails nervously. "It sounds like…like a romance."  
"That's because it is! C'mon syrup don't lie to yourself, Bassanio and Antonio in the merchant of venice were TOTALLY gay for each other. My version has romance! Action! Guns! Explosions! Death! Comedy! It's totally awesome, syrup!" Gilbert jumped and allowed himself to land on his bed on his back, laughing.  
"I-I don't know if I can do all of that Gil…"  
"Sure you can, syrup! I'll teach you! Plus it's just acting! It's not like we're actually in love!"  
"Wait! WE play the lovers? Gil NO WAY."  
"That's the loudest I've ever heard you talk!" Gilbert cackled, sitting up. "Ja of course we play the lovers! Who else would! I mean…I was kinda hoping to be partnered up with a really hot chick but you'll do I guess…" Gil smirked as he leaned back on his hands.  
"Gilbert…I c-can barely act a normal boring character…I-I can't do this…" Matthew murmured, terrified.

"Aw c'mon syrup! I told you that I'd make you look good, so I look good! Don't you trust me?" Gilbert stood, placing a hand on Matthew's shoulder, which was bare due to the baggy polar bear sweater deciding to tilt slightly off Matthew's small frame. Gilbert's hands were warm, Matthew shivered a little. For some reason he was always freezing (another reason he figured he was Canadian), but it was probably just the fact that he wasn't used to being touched purposely.

"Mon dieu..." Matthew muttered as he looked into Gilbert's eyes, realizing that maybe, just maybe, for the first time in his life…he had a friend.

"Holy shit you're French!?" Gilbert gasped, now grabbing both of Matthews shoulders tightly. The faint chills from Gilbert's hand to Matthew's shoulder was suddenly replaced with heat, making Matthew blush.

"I-I speak a lot of languages..." Matthew said, relaxing slightly as he looked at Gilbert. There was something oddly calming about being with Gilbert.

"Do you speak German?"

"Uhm...a little I guess... I mostly just stick to French"

"German is awesome. My best friend is French. The other is Spanish. You'd like them. They're awesome like me."

"Are...are we friends?" Matthew said, blushing slightly. Gilbert blinked a few times and sat back on his bed.

"I duno. Ja I guess so I mean...I call you syrup. You call me Gil. You're a bit quiet and everything but I'm sure I can fix that! Besides, I guess you being quiet forces people to pay more attention to me! Because I'm awesome." Gilbert grinned at his new friend.

"Why do you say awesome so much..." Matthew murmured, fixing his sweater so it covered both of his shoulders and joining Gilbert on his bed.

"Because it's an awesome word. Duh. We should get back to work." Gilbert said quickly, like he didn't want to talk about it. Matthew nodded a little, and so they began to write.

"Ahh…Nooo...?"

"C'mon syrup! More energy!"

"Gil I'm trying..."

"No you're not! Say it like...like you've just been shot!"

"But that IS what's happening Gil...My character is getting shot!" Matthew sighed and flopped onto the bed. They had been at this for hours. Yet Matthew was still as hopeless at acting as when they started.

"Gil maybe we should make this more simple... I mean...I'm obviously not good at this!"

Gilbert sat next to him with an exaggerated sigh.

"C'mon syrup... You can do this..." Gilbert grabbed Matthews's hands and pulled him up so they were both standing on Gil's unnecessarily large bed. "What's your favourite thing in the world!?"

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Pancakes." Matthew smiled, Gilbert's hands still gripping his.

"Pancakes. Sure. Alright, pancakes. Ok picture the best pancake you've ever tasted in your life... You're eating it with your favourite person in the world...in your favourite place...ja?"

"...That diner in Niagara Falls' pancakes...with Alfred..." Matthew said hazily with his eyes closed.

"Alfred is your favourite person? Seriously?"

"I-I don't really have friends..."

"You don't have like, a celebrity crush? C'mon Syrup I'm trying to get you to feel something here…channel your emotions!"

"Like I said, I don't really care for celebrities. Hey Gilbert?"

"Ja?"

"You're still holding my hands..." Matthew blushed and Gilbert looked down at their hands, suddenly realizing how cold Matthew was..

"Oh. Ja I guess I am." Gilbert said quietly, still not letting go. "Syrup why can't you act all blushy like this on stage?"

"Because feelings on stage are fake Gil..."

"And these feelings aren't fake?"

"Well I...I...uhm..." Matthew noticed that he was slowly getting closer and closer to Gilbert. He stuttered and blushed furiously as their lips came centimeters apart. Gilbert would have done it. Kissed Matthew right then and there. If there hadn't of been a knock at his bedroom door. Gilbert quickly pulled away from Matthew and opened the door to see Ludwig.

"What do you want?" Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"It's almost midnight. Mother wants to know if your guest is staying the night." Ludwig said, monotone as usual.

"Oh shit I didn't realize how late it was...uh... It's Saturday…so do you wana stay the night Matt?" Gilbert turned towards Matthew who was still a blushing, shaky mess.

"Uh...n-no I should uhm...I should go now...Alfred is probably worried sick." Matthew started putting his things back in his backpack.

"Oh...ja. I mean...it's pretty late I don't know if it's safe to be out with all those creeps wandering..." Gilbert muttered, for some reason he didn't want Matthew to go. He normally never needed people or friends, he was fine being alone with his awesome self and sometimes his 2 best friends. Gilbert wanted people to worship him. He didn't want friends. But Matthew was somehow different. The one person who didn't care about noticing him was the one person that Gilbert seemed to need recognition from.

"Oh it's fine...I was just going to take the subway...I don't live too far."

"The subway? Seriously syrup at least let me call you a cab. I'll pay and everything. I don't want my costar getting stabbed on a train."

"I know movies make New York look like a scary place and everything but it's really not that bad." Matthew chuckled.

"Get your ass in a cab syrup." Gilbert slung his arm around Matthews shoulders casually. "I'll even show you what an awesome gentleman I am and walk you downstairs"

Gilbert took Matthew outside where they stood in silence waiting for a cab to go by. As they stood, questions burned inside both of their minds. _Were we really about to kiss? Does he like me like that? Why do I like him so much? Is he even into guys?  
_Gilbert had too much pride to ask the question outloud. Matthew just had curiosity. It was Matthew that finally broke the silence

"...Gil? That...that was uhm...just part of your show right?" Matthew finally said softly.

"What...? Oh. That. Yeah syrup. I mean, I am an awesome actor. Sorry if it was too real for you. Sometimes I forget how awesome I am at acting." Gilbert's words strung together a little too quickly.

"Yeah...of course. That's what I thought. It...it was just acting." Matthew smiled at Gilbert. They hadn't known each other long, but Matthew had a feeling Gilbert was lying. A taxi finally came along and Gilbert hailed it over easily.

"Thanks Gil..."

"For what? Your acting still sucks." Gilbert chuckled as Matthew got into the taxi.  
"Guess we'll make good use of those 3 weeks for our assignment. Oh. Here!" Matthew scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Gilbert. "Text me if you want to rehearse sometime ok? See you at school! Bye Gil!" Matthew smiled and the cab drove away.  
"Y-Yeah…bye syrup…" Gilbert murmured staring down at the phone number. "FUCK!" Gilbert suddenly yelled, kicking a nearby trashcan. A man that was passing by looked at Gilbert like he was a total idiot, then again this looked like the kind of guy who thought everyone was a total idiot.  
"Beilshmidt…now what did that trashcan ever do to you?" The guy sighed, Gilbert looked at him. It was Roderich, the guy who lived in the same building as he did with his wife. He was some big shot composer or conductor or something totally not awesome enough for Gilbert to care about.  
"None of your business." Gilbert scowled, all he wanted was to talk to Francis or Antonio, they would know just what to say.  
"Is something troubling you?" Roderich attempted to be caring but ended up just sounding condescending.  
"I don't need your help…" Gilbert moved past Roderich to get into the building. He then cursed himself as he realized he forgot his key to get into the building. Roderich laughed.  
"It appears you do need my help. You are quite lucky I am here." Roderich flashed his keycard against the scanner and the door clicked open to the lobby of their apartment building, Gilbert ran inside and hurried back upstairs, showing no regard for Roderich. Gil spared no time getting to his laptop to talk to his friends; he never normally needed help from anyone. But now he found that the only thing he wanted was a clear head, a head clear of all thoughts of Matthew. He quickly opened skype to find that Antonio wasn't online but Francis was. Gilbert called him. The time difference was around 7 hours so Francis was most likely still asleep but he was an idiot for leaving his skype on so Gilbert called him anyways. He answered after a few rings, he may or may not have been hung over.  
"Quoi…?" Francis grumbled.  
"Francis. Sober up this is important. I think I'm in love with a Canadian."

* * *

**My note to you:  
What!? Gilbert in love?! No way man!  
Things are going quickly for them huh?  
Poor Franny and his interrupted hangover. Too much fine French wine probably.  
But yeah. As always I hope you liked it with a burning passion and I hope you stay tuned for next chapter where things between Mattie and Gil really heat up!  
Au revoir!**


	4. 3 - I see you

One week til performance day syrup! –Gil  
Oh maple… -Matt  
You guna come over later to rehearse? –Gil  
Can't. I'm working today. –Matt  
YOU HAVE A JOB? –Gil  
Gilbert we've been friends for almost a month now and you know nothing about me. –Matt  
Am I supposed to? You're not my husband. Where do you work? –Gil  
Library –Matt  
Which one? –Gil  
You're NOT coming to where I work –Matt  
I'll make your day awesome. –Gil  
C'mon syrup. –Gil  
Where do you work? –Gil  
Maaaaattieee. –Gil  
Where did you go!? –Gil

Matthew chuckled as Gilbert continuously spammed his phone for an hour as he put books on shelves. Matthew loved working at the library, it was quiet, there were books everywhere and he got paid. It was perfect. Matthew smiled to himself as he took a couple books off the shelf and placed them on his cart. And then of course, like some cliché from a movie, on the other side of the shelf was Gilbert's smirking face.  
"Found you syrup." He smirked.  
"Oh maple…" Matthew blushed heavily, "H-How did you find me?"  
"How do you think?"  
"Alfred…" Matthew sighed as Gilbert came to his side of the shelf. "Gil…you can't be here I'm working…"  
"Who says I'm here for you? I'm here to check out a book!" Gilbert said, nonchalantly picking up a random book, which happened to be on bird watching. Gilbert opened it to a random page and grinned.  
"Oh so you like birds…?" Matthew raised an eyebrow, placing more books on the shelves.  
"Yeah. I have a bird. Have I not introduced you to him? He's awesome!" Gilbert grinned, following Matthew around the library.  
"Oh cool…" Matthew murmured, he normally hated when people talked to him while he was working, but he found that talking to Gilbert was never anything but fun.  
"Hello Matthew." A small Japanese guy smiled slightly from behind the checkout desk.  
"Oh…hey Kiku. Gil, this is my boss."  
"I'm awesome Gilbert. Hey, Can Matthew take a lunch break?" Gilbert leaned against the counter.  
"Sure, he normally works through his lunch break anyways. Be back in an hour ok Matthew?" Kiku smiled.  
"Oh no no it's fine r-"  
"C'mon syrup!" Gilbert grabbed Matthew's hand and began to run with him in tow.  
"Gilbert! Where are we going?" Matthew yelled as they ran through the streets of Manhattan, dodging people and the occasional car. "Gilbert slow down!"  
"Slowing down is for the weak!" Gilbert cackled before stopping. "We're here."

"…The Empire State building?" Matthew looked up at the building, still holding Gilbert's hand.  
"Yeah! I've always wanted to go up there and be as awesome as King Kong!" Gilbert grinned, pulling Matthew into the lobby of the building, it was packed with tourists as usual.  
"Gilbert there's no way we can get up there in under an hour. The line ups for this thing are always insane..."  
"I'm a Beilschmidt. I can go wherever I want!" Gilbert grinned, walking up to the girl selling tickets. "Gilbert Beilschmidt. We need to get up there fast."  
"I-I'm sorry…?" The ticket girl said softly.  
"I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt!" He glared at the girl.  
"Uhm." The girl seemed to be trying to figure out who he was.  
"Gilbert it's fine…I'll take you here some other time…ok?" Matthew tugged on Gilbert's arm, worried he was going to cause a scene.  
"No Syrup it's ok she must have just forgotten. My mother is Holy? The singer? My Brother is Ludwig Beilschmidt!" Gilbert said, raising his voice a little. Matthew frowned, Gilbert didn't seem angry. He seemed upset, lost even.  
"Holy? Oh my gosh I loved her in that movie 'Hey Mama!'" The ticket girl grinned. "But I thought Ludwig was her only son…"  
Gilbert's face dropped like he had just been shot.  
"N-No…Ludwig is my brother!"  
"C-C'mon Gil let's go ok?" Matthew tugged on his arm again.  
"No! You have to have heard of me! I-I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt! I'm awesome! I-I'm Ludwig's brother!" Matthew couldn't stand seeing Gilbert like this, the rock solid, cocky personality that Gilbert always managed to uphold so well was slowly beginning to crack.  
"S-Sir I'm sorry but…you'll have to wait in line like everyone else…"  
"But…But I'm a Beilschmidt too! You have to have heard of me! You have to have seen me before! I-I'm in magazines too! I'm a star! Just like Ludwig! He's not any better than me y'know! I can do everything he can! Someone here has to have seen me somewhere!" Gilbert yelled, turning to face the small crowd of people in line.  
"Gil please! C'mon!" Matthew held Gilbert by his shoulders. "Look at me. I see you. Ok? I know who you are and you are _awesome_. Let's go alright…?" Matthew said firmly, he hated seeing Gilbert like this. All he wanted was some recognition. Gilbert simply nodded and Matt linked arms with him and lazily pulled him out of the building. They walked down the sidewalk silently for a bit before Matthew decided to break the silence.  
"Hey…we still have like 45 minutes…wana introduce me to your bird?"  
"You wana meet Gilbird?" Gilbert suddenly grinned at Matt, slipping back into his usual persona.  
"Your bird's name is Gilbird?" Matthew laughed and Gilbert blushed a little. He'd never seen Matthew laugh so freely before. Gilbert decided right there that he wanted to hear that laugh more often.  
"Well yeah syrup! An awesome name for an awesome bird! Plus I named him when I was like…7" Gilbert chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets as they walked down the sidewalk. Gilbert thought back to his conversation with Francis from 2 weeks ago.

"_Gilbert did you just say love?"  
"Yes! Francis I've only known this guy a couple weeks but he's driving me crazy!"  
"Crazy? How do you feel when you are with him?"  
"I-I don't know! Like…happy! He's so goddamn cute and he wears these dorky sweaters with animals on them and he makes me laugh and when he smiles I smile too and if I'm the one that makes him smile then my whole freaking day just gets a billion times more awesome! He's unlike any person I've ever met Franny! H-He doesn't care about celebrities! Or being famous! H-He doesn't like mein bruder more than he likes me! No one ever sees him and people walk all over him but he doesn't even care! Whenever someone bumps into him or ignores him I just...I want to fucking deck them! This is so not awesome!"  
"Oh…mon cher…you are in love." _

"Syrup?"  
"Yeah?"  
"…I'm sorry for all that. Guess that chick just doesn't know awesomeness when she sees it." Gilbert forced a smile. He couldn't get over what Matthew had said to him.

_I see you. _

For some reason those words were enough to calm Gilbert down. Those words were Gilbert's undoing. Gilbert suddenly stopped walking, he felt like his heart was going to explode. Matthew stopped when he realized Gilbert had and took a shaky breath as he looked at Gilbert.  
"G-Gil? You ok?" Matthew said softly, shaking Gilbert's shoulder. Gilbert stood motionless, trying to process the thousands of thoughts running through his mind. Matthew saw him. Matthew knew him. Matthew cared about him. Matthew was his friend. Matthew was everything he wasn't. Matthew wanted to hang out with him. Matthew laughed at his jokes. Matthew smiled when he did. Matthew was beautiful. Matthew had seen him upset and stayed with him. Matthew. Matthew. Matthew.  
Gilbert blinked a few times and stared into Matthew's slightly purple eyes, realizing he wanted to wake up every morning and have those eyes be the first thing he saw. He wanted to be part of every romance movie cliché with Matthew. He wanted to kiss him in the rain, watch the stars with him, run to his house in a thunderstorm to tell him he loved him, to throw pebbles at his window in the dead of night to ask him on a date, dance with him in an empty arena. He wanted everything and nothing to be with Matthew. Fuck.  
"Matthew…" Gilbert started.  
"Yeah...?"  
_No. He couldn't love Matthew. Matthew wouldn't get him famous._  
"I…Nothing. I just kinda remembered I uh…I'm going on a date later. I should go get ready." Gilbert winked and began to walk away before Matthew grabbed him.  
"Gil! Y-You're just guna leave?" Matthew frowned.  
"Yeah. The chick is pretty hot." Gilbert lied. Matthew's heart shattered and he let go of Gilbert's arm, his whole body going slightly limp.  
"Oh. Ok…I'm guna uhm…go back to work then. I'll see you on Monday…" Matthew forced a smile as Gilbert walked away without another word.

* * *

**My note to you:  
Ahh so close yet so far! Don't you just want to smush their faces together until they're happy!?  
Will the 2 lovebirds FINALLY get together in the next chapter?  
We'll see.  
Are you enjoying this so far?  
I sure hope so!  
Thanks for reading and stay tuned to see just how Matthew feels about Gilbert ditching him... **


	5. 4 - Sorry

"Hey syrup." Gilbert popped his head out from around the corner as Matthew placed books on shelves.

"Gilbert did you seriously follow me here after school…" Matthew sighed, not looking at Gilbert.  
"You haven't talked to me all day. You didn't even talk to me in drama and we're doing our performance on Friday." Gilbert followed after Matthew as he pushed the book cart around the library. It was true. Matthew had been avoiding Gilbert like the fucking plague all day long. Gilbert couldn't take much more.

"Gilbert please…I'm working." Matthew sighed again as Gil stopped the cart he was pushing with his foot.  
"Take a break. Let's go wander the streets of New York. Oh! You can take me to the empire state building like you said you would! Or we could go skate in front of that giant ass Christmas tree!" Gilbert grinned, desperate to have Matthew's attention.  
"Gilbert are the only things you know about New York what they show in movies?"  
"Pretty much. Why?"  
"We can't skate in front of the Christmas tree."  
"Why not?"  
"Gilbert it's May." Matthew rolled his eyes, Gilbert could be so dense. So absolutely goddamn dense!  
"And?"  
"…Christmas is in December." Matthew was finding it hard to tell if Gilbert was actually being serious at that point.  
"Alright then you'll have to take me in December!" Gilbert leaned against a shelf as Matthew started to place books on it.  
"Why do you need me to take you? We'll have graduated by Christmas…I might be in university! You might be...I duno...famous by then or something. We probably won't even talk by then...You can do these things alone you know…"  
"What are you talking about. Of course we'll still be friends! Plus I don't want to do it alone…it'd be more awesome with you, syrup…" Gilbert said softly, wondering why Matthew seemed so mad. It couldn't possibly be because of the scene he almost caused at the empire state building the day before...could it?

"Oh? Why don't you take some hot chick?" Matthew rolled his eyes and started to push the cart again, until Gilbert grabbed his hand and pulled him back to face him.  
"I don't want to skate with some random hot chick. I want to skate with you." Gilbert said bluntly, staring into Matthew's violet eyes. Matthew blinked, his expression unchanged.  
"Oh? Now you do?" Matthew pulled away and began to walk again, Gilbert continued to follow.  
"Matthew!"  
"We're in a library. Shut up."  
"Why are you so mad at me Syrup!?"  
"I'm not mad. I said shush."  
"Matthew would you slow down and talk to me!"  
"I'm working Gilbert! I don't know what you want from me! Just tell me what you want from me and go!"  
"Well you wouldn't talk to me in school so this is your own fault that I'm here. And right now what I want for you is to stay still for 2 seconds so I can talk to you!" Gilbert frowned, stopping along with Matthew as they reached the last shelf at the very back of the library. Matthew figured that if Gilbert was going to insist on yelling, they would do it where no one would hear them. He placed a few books on the shelves before Gilbert grabbed his shoulders and pressed him against the tall, sturdy shelf.  
"Would you just listen to me for one fucking second?" Gilbert hissed. Matthew blinked in surprise; Gilbert had never been so direct. Normally he would dance around a subject using sarcasm and the word 'awesome'.  
"Gilbert. I'm working. Leave me alone…" Matthew replied, softly.  
"Look. Syrup, you're the one person who actually notices me instead of my bruder or my famous parents. You said it yourself…you see me… Matthew, you see me and I see you! It seems like I'm the only person who really sees you! And...and you don't care about all this fame shit! You just hang out with me because...well...I'm not sure why so let's just assume it's because I'm awesome. I-I lied about the date with a hot chick. There was no date. I didn't realize it would upset you so much so I'm sorry ok? Apologizing is not awesome so I try to avoid it at all costs but I'm apologizing now so you better appreciate it ok!? Syrup you haven't talked to me all day and it's pissing me off because when I'm not talking to you I feel all fucking empty inside and stuff and I hate it because I'm a star! I don't need other people! Celebrities don't need friends! They need people to _want_ to be their friends but for some reason I _need _you to talk to me! I need you and your stupid smile and your stupid laugh and your stupid purple eyes and your stupid fuzzy animal sweaters! I need you to see me! I want the whole world to know me but the only thing that will ever matter is whether or not _you, see_ me! Okay!? " Gilbert breathed out and looked down, releasing Matthew's shoulders. Matthew stood up straighter, not knowing what to say.  
"O-Okay…" Matthew hugged Gilbert gingerly and Gilbert hesitantly hugged him back.  
"I'm sorry…" Gilbert muttered into Matthew's shoulder. Neither of them knew exactly what Gilbert was apologizing for so Matthew just hugged him tighter anyways.  
"Look at me…" Matthew whispered, pulling away slightly.  
"Syrup..." Gilbert felt utterly defeated. He couldn't handle much more of this emotional shit.  
"Gil. Just look at me ok?" Matthew looked into Gilbert's eyes to see something he'd never seen before. The look in Gilbert's eyes was the opposite of what it normally was. In that moment, his red eyes were glazed over with despair, as if Gilbert had lost something. Matthew frowned trying to figure out why Gilbert looked so devastated, and then it hit him. Gilbert had just lost everything. In admitting to himself that he loved Matthew he had lost his pride, lost his values, lost his goals. Loving Matthew meant being held back from his dream of becoming famous, it meant that every plan he'd made to get famous was destroyed. He would now have to factor Matthew into every equation... It meant Matthew had single handedly obliterated every ideal Gilbert had about life. Loving Matthew meant he'd completely misjudged himself and everything he thought he knew. Matthew was torn. If he kissed Gilbert, assuring him he loved him too, Gilbert's heart would soar but his dream would be crushed. If he pushed Gilbert away, his heart would shatter but he could focus on becoming a star. He had to do what was best for Gilbert. No matter how much it hurt both of them. …Gilbert would probably get over it anyways right? Loving Matthew was bound to be a mistake anyways...  
"I…I don't love you Gilbert. I'm not a fag. Stay away from me ok? I don't want anything to do with your...your fucked up obsessions with fame..." Matthew pulled away from Gilbert and turned to leave. As he took a step away, before his brain was even able to get upset and feel guilty about using such harsh words, he was suddenly grabbed and pressed against the shelf again.

"Your acting still fucking sucks syrup…" Gilbert hissed before kissing Matthew hard. This was no where near being Gilbert's first kiss, but it might as well have been because this was something Gilbert had never even dreamed of feeling. The way Matthew tasted of warm pancakes and hot chocolate on a freezing cold day, the feeling of Matthew's cold fingers gingerly finding their way to Gilbert's waist, the way Gilbert could physically feel Matthew's entire body melt beneath him. The moment was like something straight out of a movie, Gilbert could almost picture the green-screen behind them showing images of fireworks and bells ringing, he could almost hear a live sitcom audience cheering and 'awwwee'ing at them. It was all too much yet at the same time it was nowhere near enough. Gilbert needed more, his body begged for more along with his mind. Any other time, Gilbert would have had no problem making Matthew his right then and there in the middle of the library. But then he realized, this was Matthew. He didn't need to make Matthew his because he knew that he already was. Gilbert pulled away slowly, breaking the kiss but still holding Matthew close.  
"Come over after you're done work, ja? We have our awesome show to rehearse for, remember?" Gilbert smiled, kissing Matthew softly and quickly once more before turning on his heel and leaving. Matthew stayed against the wall for a few moments after Gilbert left, trying to process what had just happened.  
"My acting does not suck…" Matthew murmured, laughing.

* * *

**My note to you:  
Ahhh it happened! It happened! Rejoice!  
But this fic is no where near over. Soon we'll be seeing the boys graduate and Gilbert's antics to get famous... How will that play out I wonder? (Actually I don't wonder...I wrote it.) You'll just have to wait and see!  
Still hope you're enjoying! Next chapter Matthew gets to meet the lovely Francis and Antonio!  
Look forward to it!  
Bye bye!**


	6. 5 - Other than Awesome

Gilbert stared at the clock, waiting for the bell to ring for lunch, he would have done anything to see Matthew right then. He hadn't seen him all day and it was absolutely killing him. Matthew hadn't shown up at his house to rehearse last night and to Gilbert that only meant one thing; Matthew really didn't like him back. He had kissed Matthew when he shouldn't have and now he hated him. Fuck he was so stupid! FUCK how did Matthew have this kind of a hold on him!? Fuck fuck fuck fuck. After a few more pain stakingly long minutes that Gilbert was forced to think of how much Matthew hated him and curse himself, the bell finally rang, releasing Gilbert from his english class to run straight to the stairwell where Matthew normally sat to eat lunch before going to the school library. It crowded with students deciding on where to go for lunch for a few minutes before people cleared out to go sit in the cafeteria, leaving Matthew sitting alone in the window-sill, watching rain gently tap the glass.  
"Hey." Was all Gilbert managed to say. He would latter curse himself for being so lame. Matthew spun, immediately blushing heavily as he saw Gilbert, looking the same as he always did. Shaggy white hair, black jeans, grey shirt with a Prussian eagle on it. Gilbert was a complicated person, but to Matthew he would always be simply Gilbert.  
"I-I...I'm so sorry…!" Matthew cried, immediately dropping his book to spring up and hug Gilbert tight.  
"Woah woah hey there syrup. You don't have to apologize for mein awesomeness." Gilbert chuckled, clearly confused as to what was wrong with Matthew.  
"Y-You kissed me yesterday a-and I never went to your house to rehearse like I was supposed to because I w-was too scared th-that you'd be mad…!" Matthew sniffled, burying his head into Gilbert's shoulder when he realized Gil wasn't mad in the slightest.  
"Wh-what? Why would I be mad? I kissed you…you didn't do anything wrong." Gilbert said, softer than his usual loud self.  
"…I-I called you a fag…G-Gilbert I didn't mean it I-I shouldn't have said it…it was really mean and awful and I'm so sorry…"  
Gilbert's eyes widened and for once in his life, he was speechless. Matthew managed to stress himself out to the point of tears over one word that he didn't even mean. Matthew had been too scared to even face Gilbert after they kissed out of pure hatred for himself.  
"I-I tried to lie to you…I tried to hurt you Gil…I'm so sorry…" Matthew murmured as Gilbert pulled him closer.  
"Syrup…is that what this is about? You know I knew you were lying right? I mean…you made it pretty obvious that you liked me too when you kissed me back…that kiss was awesome by the way." Gilbert smiled a little pulling away from Matthew and kissing his forehead, something that was normally way too domestic of an action for Gilbert. "I have a very awesome honor for you syrup."  
"What…?" Matthew smiled softly, wiping away his tears with his over-sized sweater sleeve.  
"You get to be mein boyfriend." Gilbert smirked, messing up Matthew's hair.  
"You…you want…you want…m-me?" Matthew said, awestruck.  
"Well ja! Course I do! You're awesome Syrup!" Gilbert did a good job of keeping up his awesomeness on the outside, when on the inside he was terrified Matthew would say no. He knew it was irrational to think Matthew would say no but he still had that pinch of fear in the back of his mind, praying that Matthew would be his by the end of that 40-minute lunch period.  
"W-Would we…tell people?" Matthew muttered softly, picking at threads on his sweater sleeve.  
"Hell ja!" Gilbert cackled, "Like I'd keep you a secret syrup! Think of how awesome everyone will think I am that I'm going out with Matthew freaking Williams! I mean we d-"  
"Shhh! Not so loud!" Matthew pressed his finger to Gilbert's lips. "G-Gilbert not even Alfred knows I'm gay! I-I don't want everyone to know!"  
"Dude you're gay!? I TOTALLY KNEW IT!" Alfred laughed, seeming to appear at the top of the stairs suddenly, jumping down the entire flight of stairs at once and somehow not breaking his ankle.  
"H-Holy shit. Al how long have you been listening!?" Matthew blushed.  
"You're pretty sexy when you swear." Gilbert added, earning a punch to the arm from Matthew. "Ow."  
"Pretty much the whole time. I thought there was something going on between you two! So I did a little bit of hero spy work!" Alfred grinned smugly.  
"I-I'm sorry I didn't tell you…" Matthew looked down at his feet.  
"Dude it's totally fine! Speaking of gay, I gotta go find Arthur!" Alfred spun on his heel to leave but before he did, he spun back around and shoved Gilbert against the wall. "Hurt my brother and you're so freaking dead! And no using him either! Hear me? I'm watching you…" Al glared at Gilbert as he left the stairwell.  
"Well...Alright then. That was pretty out of nowhere huh...? That wasn't so bad was it Syrup!" Gilbert smiled, nudging Matthew's shoulder. "Also you're coming over tonight."  
"I-I am…?"  
"Ja. You are. My parents won't be home so we have the house to ourselves!"  
"G-Gil…I-I-I-" Matthew went bright red and tried to disappear into his baggy sweater.  
"Mein gott Syrup I'm not Franny! I meant we could rehearse! I'm not talking about sex!" Gilbert laughed, sitting in the windowsill, motioning for Matthew to join him.  
"Oh…" Matthew sat, "That's alright then… Who's Franny?"  
"My idiot best friend. Damn he is going to freak when he see's mein awesome boyfriend!" Gilbert grinned.

* * *

"Allo allo mon cher!" Francis grinned on Gilbert's laptop screen.  
"Hola!" Antonio called from off screen.  
"Toni? Where are you man?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow and Francis groaned.  
"He is practicing…he entered some sort of ridiculous competition to see who could juggle tomatoes the longest…"  
"I am going to win! I am sure of it!" Antonio called.  
"Alright then. Toni get your ass on screen there's someone I want you to meet!" Gilbert glanced over at Matthew who was nervously chewing on his sleeve. Toni soon joined Francis on screen, covered in squashed tomatoes.  
"Guys. This is Matthew." Gilbert pulled Matthew in front of the camera so Antonio and Francis could see him. "He's mein freund…"  
"Your friend? That's nice." Antonio raised an eyebrow, wondering what the big deal was.  
"You idiot. Not friend, _freund!_ It means boyfriend in German! Matthew and Gilbert are lovers!" Francis smacked Antonio in the head.  
"Ow! Is there a language you DON'T know how to say 'lover' in!?" Antonio grumbled. Matthew couldn't help but giggle a little. He could see why these 3 were best friends.  
"So Gilbert tells me you speak French…oui?" Francis winked, leaning into the camera a bit.  
"O-Oh…G-Gilbert talks about me?" Matthew blushed as Gilbert rested his head lazily on Matthew's shoulder.  
"But of course! He is absolutely in l-" Gilbert cut Francis off.  
"Hey hey hey yeah we get it I'm awesome and I talk about Matthew sometimes whatever…" Gilbert huffed. Matthew giggled a little.  
"Oui… Je parle français…"  
"Ooh la la mon chéri! Incroyable!" Francis grinned, "Soyez honnête. Est-Gilbert vous force à sortir avec lui?"  
_((Ooh la la my darling! Incredible! Be honest, is Gilbert forcing you to go out with him?))_  
"Hey I heard my name. Quit talking about me! Mattie what did he say? C'mon syrup is he talking shit?" Gilbert snapped.  
"Non… Non, je l'aime vraiment Gilbert, il est impressionnant..." Matthew blushed.  
_((No…no, I really like Gilbert, he's awesome...))_  
"Now you said my name! Toni! Make them stop!" Gilbert pouted.  
"Gilbert I thought you wanted people to talk about you!" Antonio laughed.  
"Yeah but…not my boyfriend…" Gilbert actually managed to let himself blush a little bit.  
"Vous devriez faire attention à lui maintenant. Avant de partir, mon cher, vous devriez savoir que Gilbert est un vierge. Même si il dit qu'il n'est pas… Au revoir!" Francis laughed and Gilbert groaned at not being able to understand.  
_((You should probably pay attention to him now. Before I leave, my dear you should know that Gilbert is a virgin even though he says he is not. Bye!))  
_"Oh…" Matthew blushed and glanced at Gilbert who was pouting on his shoulder. "Th-Thanks Francis…It was nice to meet you both…"

Everyone said their goodbyes and nice to meet you's and the call was ended, Gilbert immediately grabbed Matthew by the shoulders.  
"What did he say about me." Gilbert didn't ask, he demanded. Matthew giggled.  
"Oh nothing. He asked me if you were forcing me to date you…"  
"That frog."  
"…but I told him no…I told him I really like you…" Matthew blushed as Gilbert smiled at him.  
"Oh. Ja well that's ok…I like you too Syrup…" Gilbert let go of Matthew's shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck a little as he blushed. Matthew decided to leave out the part about him being a virgin.  
"Y'know, it's nice to see you showing an emotion other than 'awesome.'" Matthew laughed, lying on Gilbert's ridiculous king sized bed.  
"Hey. Awesomeness is not an emotion it's a lifestyle! Speaking of awesome…be right back!" Gilbert suddenly ran from the room and left Matthew alone. Matthew looked up at the posters on Gilbert's ceiling. His walls were mostly bare other than the dark red paint, yet he had the Prussian flag pasted across his ceiling above his bed. It was just so…Gilbert.  
Gilbert came running back in with something clasped between his hands. Matthew sat up and Gilbert opened his hands to reveal a little yellow bird.  
"This is mein best friend since I was 7! Gilbird! Gilbird, this is Matthew. Or Syrup. You have to be nice to him ja?" Gilbert spoke to the puffball before it tweeted and flew around the room happily. Gilbert sat next to Matthew on the bed and they watched him fly around.  
"His cage used to be in mein room but Mama and Vater moved him to the study because I kept staying up late talking to him." Gilbert laughed as Gilbird landed in Matthew's hair.  
"I think he likes me…" Matthew laughed.  
"Well he has incredibly awesome taste…" Gilbert muttered, pushing that one stray curl out of Matthew's face. Gilbert was kissing Matthew a few moments later. Their drama performance was in 2 days…and they didn't get any rehearsing done that day.

* * *

**My note to you:  
Fluffity fluff. Aren't they cute?  
As for the French and the translations... I, like Mattie, am Canadian so I do speak quite a bit of Quebec French...but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm good at it. So if you see a mistake that bothers you please just let me know! Still hope you're enjoying the reading as much as I enjoy writing!  
Also quick side note: I'm currently just in the editing process of a new fic! The pairing is GerIta and it's a bit of a modern day mafia, star-crossed lovers kind of thing. Keep an eye out for it if it sounds interesting to you! It'll be up real soon!  
Thanks so much for the support guys!  
Adios!**


	7. 6 - Hurt

"95%!" Gilbert picked Matthew up and spun him around happily. "We did it syrup! Best performance in the school this year!"  
"Gi-i-il! Put me d-down!" Matthew squeaked as Gilbert continued to flail around. Gilbert put him down and kissed him hard, not caring if anyone saw.  
"We're celebrating tonight Syrup! You get to take me out on a date!" Gilbert chimed, linking arms with Matthew as they got ready to leave the drama studio.  
"Oh I do, do I?" Matthew grinned. He was of course more than happy to go on a date with Gilbert. He had finally gotten Gilbert to agree that they wouldn't be flashy with their relationship but they didn't care if people happened to find out.  
"Oh! Gilbert!" Their drama teacher called after them, "Gil could you stay and talk to me for just a minute~?"  
Gilbert looked at Matthew questioningly.  
"I'll just wait outside alright? Don't be too long." Matthew squeezed his hand and left just as the bell rang, the rest of the students filed out and Gilbert stayed behind with their teacher.  
"What's up teach?" Gilbert smirked. His drama teacher's name was Mr. Lukasiewicz, but Gilbert never really cared for learning any of his teachers' names, especially seeing as this one was fucking impossible to pronounce. So Gil settled with either calling him by his first name, Feliks, or just teach. Gilbert thought he himself was an interesting character…but compared to his polish drama teacher, he might as well have been a grain of sand next to a fucking dragon. Feliks was known throughout the school as 'that one drama teacher who apparently cross dresses and has a fixation with dragons and making up laws that don't exist.' It goes without being said that he was definitely Gilbert's kind of person.  
"Well I think we both know your culminating performance was totally rad." The teacher began, digging through a pile of flyers and papers on his desk as if he were looking for a specific one.  
"Duh."  
"Ah! Here it is!" He handed Gilbert a very detailed looking flyer along with a form.  
"An audition…?" Gilbert muttered, reading over the flyer.  
"Yes! They're looking for a new cast member for that amaaaazing soap opera 'Your Stars' and I think you should at least audition…you have a great chance of making it big in the acting world Gilbert! And you need to start somewhere right? Well unless you were just planning on flashing the world your cock and balls. Because that could totally work too."  
"Your Stars…? That show is huge here right? I see ads for it everywhere." Gilbert said, not tearing his eyes away from the flyer, in his hands he held his potential ticket to being a huge star. He just had to ace this audition.  
"Yeah…yeah I'll definitely think about it. Thanks…I'll see you on Monday teach." Gilbert murmured, wandering out of the room. In the past, Gilbert would have instantly began learning lines and rehearsing his audition. But this time, a tiny piece of him wavered; he had to talk to Matthew about this first.  
"Hey. Syrup." Gilbert poked Matthew who was playing on his phone waiting for Gilbert outside the drama studio. Matthew looked up to see Gilbert smiling at him and he couldn't help but smile back. 90% of the time Gilbert was smiling, but this smile was different. Normally Gilbert's smile was either a smirk or some sort of smug grin…this time it was just a smile. A genuine smile. The day Matthew's heart didn't flutter as soon as he saw Gilbert would be the day that it stopped beating entirely. Another tacky movie cliché that neither minded with each other.  
"Hey…" Matthew slid his hand into Gilbert's as they walked down the almost empty halls to go home.  
"Ooh handholding today huh? Someone's feeling daring! How fun..." Gilbert snickered, squeezing Matthew's hand tighter.  
"Oh hah hah…" Matthew blushed, "So what happened?"  
"Oh…he wants me to check out this audition… there's going to be a new character on that soap opera 'Your Stars'…he thinks I should audition…it's next week."  
"You sound like you're not guna do it." Matthew looked at Gilbert with a raised eyebrow.  
"You think I should?"  
"Well…course I do Gil… This could be your shot! I'm sure they'll love you I mean you're…you're awesome!" Matthew grinned, wrapping his arm around Gilbert's as they walked towards the subway to take them to downtown Manhattan. They were both just instinctively going to Gilbert's place. Gil didn't know why, but whenever he suggested they go to Matthew's place for once, he would immediately refuse and change the subject.  
"Ja! Ja I'll do it I just…I wanted to ask you what you thought about it first…"  
"Gil we're not married, we've been dating for like a week… it's not like I make choices for you…" Matthew chuckled a little but stopped when he noticed Gilbert suddenly stopped walking. "Gil?"  
"I know that. But…Syrup I…It really matters to me what you think. And I really care about you because you're pretty awesome…and I don't want to upset you." Gilbert said seriously. Matthew's eyes widened and his mouth hung open slightly. He had no idea Gilbert cared so much. Of course he knew Gilbert really liked him, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. But he just didn't realize that Gilbert…_cared. _  
"Gilbert…" Matthew sighed, flinging his arms around Gilbert's shoulders and leaning up on his tiptoes to kiss Gilbert as hard as he could, right in broad daylight for everyone to see. He didn't care what anyone thought about him in that moment. The only thing he wanted was for Gilbert to know how absolutely in love with him he was right then. Barely anyone even noticed Gilbert and now he had someone in his life who didn't just notice him...he was the only thing they noticed. They had only been dating a few days but nothing had felt so routine in Matthew's entire life. Both of their entire lives had been spent living in hiding, unseen and unheard of compared to the behemoth celebrities that their brothers were. The only difference was that Gilbert was desperate to be seen, Matthew wasn't. But in this one moment, the one moment where there was nothing but each other, they both finally knew exactly what it felt like to be seen by every single person on earth that mattered.  
"…Matthew I…" Gilbert began, his hands trembling slightly around Matthew's waist. Matthew had never been so bold before, Gilbert would be lying if he said it wasn't the hottest thing he'd ever experienced…and that was saying something considering a girl once accidently almost flashed him when a piece of her shirt ripped off. That was some party.  
"Do the audition ok? You'll do really great and who knows, this could be your ticket to fame right? It's what you've always wanted…this is so amazing Gilbert..." Matthew smiled, kissing Gilbert quickly once more.  
"Matthew... I love y-"  
"Faggots!" Gilbert couldn't finish his sentence as a tough looking guy on skateboard suddenly shoved them apart. Gilbert fell to the ground but Matthew managed to stay standing. Gilbert sighed with relief for a brief second that Matthew was ok…then the guy grabbed Matthew by his hair and roughly smashed his face into the brick wall Matthew was leaning on. "Go to hell homo!" He would have done more, he would have beaten Matthew to a pulp if it hadn't of been for that Godsend of a woman.  
"HEY! Piss off!" She screamed, whacking the guy in the head with…a frying pan? The guy was knocked unconscious in one hit, lucky for him, this chick looked like she was ready to beat the living shit out of him.  
She made Matthew sit down before she turned to face Gilbert.  
"Beilschmidt are you alright too? That asshole deserves a lot more whacks with my pan…" She grumbled. That's when Gilbert recognized her; it was Elizaveta, Roderich's wife who (for some reason) always had a frying pan in her purse. Gilbert would normally of called her crazy…but right now she was the best person imaginable.  
"Y-Yeah I'm fine! M-Matthew!? Mattie are you ok?" Gilbert moved over to Matthew as fast as he could.

"I-I'm fine Gil don't worry…I'm fine…" Matthew muttered, blood gushing from his nose, he started to chuckle a little. "My brother has done worse when we use to play baseball… just don't tell him about this…he'll have a fit…"  
"Y-You don't look fine. Mein gott…he fucking broke your nose…!" Gilbert clenched his fists.  
"Beilschmidt… go ahead…take one free shot at the guy." Elizaveta winked. Gilbert didn't ask any questions, he quickly got up and kicked the bastard in the stomach as hard as he could.  
"Fucking dick!" Gilbert screamed, Matthew managed to get up and hug Gilbert quickly. Matthew had never seen his red eyes so full of rage.  
"Hey…It's ok…Gil it's ok I'm fine ok…? It's just a little blood…C'mon just…take me home ok…? It's fine…" Matthew murmured, holding Gilbert tight, getting blood on his shoulder.  
"He hurt you…"  
"Gil it's fine…it's fine…"  
"Take him home ok Beilschmidt? I'll deal with this guy. Don't worry." Elizaveta assured them.  
Gilbert just nodded and silently swore to himself that the next person to hurt Matthew... would be the next murder case in the papers.

* * *

**My note to you:  
****This chapter felt rather short. I apologize. But anyways...  
****Poor Mattie :( People can be so awful for no reason at all... Good thing there are people like Eliza who will beat them up with a frying pan!  
****Just a heads up...updates might be getting a little slower from here on out. But don't worry. There will always be at the very very least, a chapter per week. Because I'm nice. Also, that GerIta mafia fic I spoke about last chapter, it's going well. I just want to get a few chapters done to avoid falling behind. It'll be up soon I promise! A few people showed interest in it and I'm so happy!  
****So ja. Hope you liked it and all that jazz. Also, Happy Canada Day to any fellow Canadians out there!  
See you on the next update my dears! **  
**Next chapter we find out how Gilbert's soap opera audition goes! **  
**Will he get the part? **  
**Stay Tuned! *Dramatic music***


	8. 7 - Waiting

Matthew was greeted with a huge hug as he stepped into Gilbert's penthouse.  
"Matthew! Can I call you Mattie like your brother does!? I didn't know you were coming over today this is so sheezy! Ludwig was just about to make pasta with me want some too!?"  
"Oh gosh uhm…H-Hi Feliciano! N-No I brought food for Gil and I…" Matthew gestured to the take out bags in his hands. "I didn't realize you came over to Gilbert's place too…" Matthew smiled awkwardly, prying Feli off of him.  
"Yeah! Ludwig says I'm his best friend! Well, he said I'm his only friend which is pretty much the same thing right?! So how is your summer going so far Matthew? I miss everyone from school already! Wasn't graduation so so much fun! I was talking to this really pretty lady but then she slapped me but I'm not sure why but then Ludwig got mad at me too but I really liked that speech Gilbert did it was so funny! Didn't you like it Matthew!?" Feli talked at light speed as usual. Matthew just smiled and nodded along. It was true though, Gilbert's graduation speech was pretty great. He wasn't even supposed to make a speech. He just decided that the valedictorians speech 'sucked ass' so he got up and made his own speech up. As much as everyone didn't want to admit it, it made their high school graduation ceremony actually bearable.  
"Feliciano…please refrain from attacking our guests. Matthew, Gilbert is in his room…I wish you luck. I'm still not quite sure what possesses you to put up with him..." Ludwig sighed, pulling Feli back into the kitchen with him. Matthew wondered what Ludwig meant by that as he went to Gilbert's room. Gilbert had texted him asking to spend the weekend with him as he normally did so Matthew just went over, bringing food and not really thinking much of it.  
"Oh maple…" Matthew sighed, entering Gilbert's room to see utter chaos, Gilbert was nervously pacing around 3 phones in the middle of the floor, his bed was a mess, there was energy drink cans scattered everywhere and half eaten food all over the place. And then there was Gilbert. He was wearing what seemed to be the same outfit from 3 days ago, his hair looked like he had run through some form of sandstorm, getting it all gray and dusty, he had bags under his eyes and his nails were chewed to stubs. Matthew sighed as he watched Gilbert's eyes continuously droop shut and he stumbled forward slightly with every few steps; he probably hadn't slept all night. "Gilbert what the hell is going on?" Matthew made him sit on the bed.  
"I uhm…heh…they…well…it's like…awesome…" Gilbert mumbled, half asleep.  
"You always get mad at me when I mumble. Speak words." Matthew poked his cheek, waking him up a bit.  
"Nnhhhm…The audition…casting goes out today. I'm w-waiting…" He yawned, "For…for the guy…to call…call to tell me if I got the part…"  
"That's this weekend?" Matthew gasped, the audition was almost 2 months ago now. They had been waiting for this call for weeks.  
"Y-Yeah…"  
"Gil…you can barely stay awake. You need to sleep ok?"  
"N-…Call…awesome…"  
"C'mon. I'll wake you as soon as the phone rings ok? You need to sleep and then when you wake up we can eat the chinese food I brought." Matthew laid down with Gilbert; he immediately snuggled against Matthew's 'way too warm for summer' sweater. Matthew smiled a little, Gilbert had gotten him the sweater he was wearing. It was light blue, 2 sizes to big just as Matthew liked it and it had a yellow chick on the front that looked like Gilbird. Where Gilbert had managed to find an Easter sweater, mid July he would never know. But it was nice of him to think of someone other than himself nonetheless.  
"H-Hey...Matt...? Why...why d'you think...there are chinatowns..." he yawned, "everywhere...? They must be...up t'something... There should be...P-Prussia towns...awesome..." Gilbert rambled in a sleep ridden haze. Things between Matthew and Gilbert had been going perfectly. They went to prom together (Matthew went very reluctantly after 8 proposals from Gilbert. One of which involved the Albino filling Matthew's locker to the brim with pancakes.), graduated together (Gilbert's speech included the inspirational and touching words of: "I know I'm awesome and you are not but that doesn't mean you can't get laid someday!"), went to the empire state building together (It wasn't that great. Once they got to the top Gilbert just sighed and declared it to be a stupid building anyways.), went on dates as often as they could (Often meaning Gilbert would show up where Matthew worked and play the 'let's see how I can get Matthew fired' game. Thank god he wasn't too good at It.), they had even told each other they loved one another in the most perfect way imaginable. Perfect, meaning:

_"You put way too much maple syrup on your pancakes."  
"Well maybe that's why you always call me Syrup…"  
"No I call you syrup because you're freaking awesome and I love you."  
"You-"  
"I love you get over it."  
"…I love you too Gilbert."  
"Don't make a big deal of it syrup."  
"You're the one blushing."  
"Yeah right. You're blushing. I'm just so awesome sometimes I make myself blush. That's all."  
"Mmhm. Gil shut up and eat your pancakes."_

Then again, Gilbert could have burped the words 'I love you' to Matthew and he wouldn't have cared, Gilbert loving someone that wasn't himself was already amazing enough on it's own. Matthew loved every second he spent with his boyfriend, sure, sometimes they got some stares and sometimes they got some homophobes being assholes. Sometimes it was just Gilbert being the asshole. But it didn't matter because no amount of hate was going to change the fact that Gilbert noticed Matthew and Gilbert made Matthew's life something other than nothing worth noticing.

And so Matthew lay there with his sleeping albino obnoxiously on top of him and obnoxiously close to him as they waited for the call that could change Gilbert's life. Matthew couldn't really tell what his feelings on this were. This phone call was the key to Gilbert's happiness. Getting this role would mean everything to Gilbert and Matthew wanted nothing more than for Gilbert to be happy... But then of course there was the fact that Gil would be constantly busy with filming while Matthew would be busy with university, which started in autumn. Matthew found himself subconsciously pulling Gil closer. He couldn't tell the difference between what he wanted to think and what he actually thought. So he decided to just let whatever happened, happen. Gilbert slept. Matthew waited. Matthew slept. They held each other close. The phone rang.  
As if it were scheduled directly into Gilbert's brain, he sprang up, startling Matthew, he grabbed the ringing phone and answered it at lightning speed.  
"Ja!?"  
Matthew sat on the bed staring at Gilbert intently, he couldn't hear what the agent was saying but Gilbert's face suddenly stiffened and he fell to his knees, dropping the phone. Matthew rushed over and hugged Gilbert tight.  
"Hey it's ok…you'll get the next one ok? You'll always have me remember...? It's fine…I love you Gil…so much…" Matthew kissed Gilbert's cheek softly and smiled. At that point neither could tell if the smile was out of pity, sympathy or joy.  
"I'm so fucking awesome…" Gilbert whispered.  
"Yeah…yeah you are. You're Gil. You're awesome…"  
"Syrup…I got it."  
"Wh-What…?"  
"I got the part…Matthew…I-I…I'm going to be famous."

* * *

**My note to you:  
He got the part! Yay! ...Or is it? Next chapter we see how things go with the first day of filming...hopefully it doesn't all go to poor Gilbert's head.  
Thanks so much for sticking around this far!  
Alsooo... My modern day mafia GerIta fic is finally up! ...well the first chapter is anyways...  
It's called 'Kiss me, Don't kill me.'  
*shameless self promotion* Please please please if you're a GerIta fan go check it out! I really hope you like it, it features a ton of Hetalia characters and side pairings so I really hope everyone can enjoy it! Thanks so much!  
Adios!**


	9. 8 - Day one! Run

"Suck my balls kraut…"  
"Lovino! Be nice, da?"  
"Whatever. I'm Lovino. If I like you, you can call me Lovi. But I don't like you so don't." Lovino sighed, not looking up from his magazine as a girl did his make-up.  
"Do not mind Lovi. He's a little grouchy sometimes…I am Ivan. You are Gilbert, da?" Ivan smiled, it was a little creepy, but still a smile.  
"Yeah. I guess you guys are my co-stars huh?" Gilbert tried to say as naturally as he could as a girl did his hair.  
"It's nice to meet you. You will be playing Jonathan on the show da?"  
"Yeah! So far my lines are pretty awesome! You guys play Jerry and Ian on the show right?"  
"Yeah. Gold star for you kraut." Lovi scoffed as a girl tried to tame a curl sticking out of the side of his head. Gilbert chuckled slightly, he looked like a pissed off version of Feli.  
"Hey you wouldn't happen to be related to a Feliciano Vargas would you?" Gilbert said jokingly, Lovi looked utterly astounded.  
"You know Feliciano?"  
"Yeah I went to school with hi-"  
"Everyone on set!" A director called, cutting Gilbert off. Gilbert grinned. This was it. His first filming session. His blood boiled, sprinting and clawing at his veins as he got to his marker and looked into the camera preparing to read his first line. This was his chance for the world to see him, he'd be rich enough to buy his own penthouse and live with Matthew. He'd buy Matthew everything he ever wanted, they'd have a huge wedding for the whole world to see. All he had to do was be awesome on camera and he'd have everything that he'd ever wanted.  
"Action!"

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Great job today Gil!"  
"I can't believe you did so well on your first day!"  
"See you tomorrow Gil!"  
"Yeah see you Lovi! Bye Ivan! Oh! Thanks man! See you!" Gilbert grinned as a constant flow of people talked to him as he tried to leave. As Gilbert finally left the building he checked his watch: 11:56pm. Filming had taken longer than he thought it would, not that Gilbert minded, he felt awesome. Another hour later Gilbert was home. He didn't expect to see Matthew asleep on his bed.  
"Hey…Mattie. Wake up syrup…" Gilbert shook Matthew gently.  
"Mmm…" Matthew grumbled, "…you're home…" Matthew yawned, sitting up and hugging Gilbert lazily.  
"Hey syrup…I didn't realize you'd be here. It's an awesome surprise though."  
"You said we would hang out today after your first filming session…Ludwig let me in. Feli was here too…they seem like really good friends."  
"Syrup you really didn't have to wait for me…you were probably bored."  
"Nah…" Matthew shrugged a little as he nuzzled closer to Gilbert, "Gilbird kept me company…I really didn't want to miss your very first day of filming. How was it?"  
"It was pretty awesome Syrup…but we both seem really tired so I'll just grace you with it's awesomeness in the morning ok?" Gilbert laid Matthew back down and tucked him in carefully. "I'm just guna get a drink ok?"  
"Mmhmm…" Matthew hummed into the pillow. Damnit he was way too cute. Gilbert went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water before he noticed Ludwig sitting at their breakfast bar with what smelled like German hot chocolate.  
"Oh. Hey Bruder…" Gilbert murmured, not really wanting to talk to Ludwig.  
"Hm? Oh…yes. Hallo." Ludwig responded, zoned out.  
"Thanks for letting Mattie in."  
"No worries…"  
"He told me you were with Feliciano. You two are close huh?"  
"Ja…ja I suppose so."  
Gilbert sighed heavily, Ludwig was being more awkward than usual. This meant he would actually have to attempt to be a good brother.  
"What is it? Did Mom take away your beer? Is something fun happening, did someone threaten you? Just tell me so I can get back to mein boyfriend quickly…" Gilbert leaned on the counter across from Ludwig.  
"…Please Gilbert do not trouble yourself. Matthew has been waiting for you for hours. You should be with him." Ludwig said, blunt as usual.  
"Right…Ja. Well you know where to find me." Gilbert went back to his room and smiled at Matthew being in a completely different position than when he left him. Over the 4 months they had been together, one of the many things Gilbert had learned about Matthew was that he likes to move around when he sleeps, a lot. But the thing that really made Gilbert smile was the fact that whenever Gilbert was with him…he laid perfectly still, curled up against him. It's like they were an old married couple or something.  
"I love you syrup…" Gilbert murmured softly as he got into bed with Matthew. He glanced at the clock to see it was almost 1am.  
"Love you too, Albino." Matthew whispered.  
"Aw no fair I didn't know you were awake!" Gilbert nudged Matthew and laughed.  
"Too late. No take backs."  
"And why would I do that? Now go to sleep…remember I have lots of awesome things to tell you in the morning."  
"Mmhm." Matthew hummed and easily fell back asleep with Gilbert curled up against him. Gilbert listened to Matthew's steady breathing and with each breath he took, the more he felt like he couldn't breathe. When Gilbert lived in Germany he was notorious. He could get into any bar he wanted without a second glance, he had girls hanging off him. He had Antonio and Francis to party with every night. To get drunk off his ass with and skip classes with like the future didn't matter one iota. To put things in the simplest of terms, Gilbert was rock solid on not giving a shit about anything on earth other than himself. As far as he was concerned, he had life figured out. Get famous, fuck bitches, party hard. But this stupid Canadian went and absolutely fucked everything up for him.  
Laying there in the dark with his boyfriend whom he loved.  
That sentence shouldn't have ever even occurred to make sense to Gil. First off, him and Matthew hadn't had sex yet. They were just lying there... content with being still. Not something Gilbert would normally do. His old ideals wouldn't have allowed him to perform an action so domestic and trusting.  
Second, boyfriend. Gilbert had an actual almost long-term boyfriend. Which would have been fine in the celebrity world if his boyfriend was sexy or famous or rich or an athlete or his co-star. But Matthew wasn't exactly any of those things. He was an invisible, socially awkward teenager who wore dorky sweaters and was going to be studying to be a fucking zoologist. Nothing special or flashy that would give him credit or his name in lights. He simply just wanted to work with animals for a living. Specifically polar bears.  
And that lead Gilbert to the last part of that sentence. He _loved_ him. He loved every socially awkward blush and dorky oversized sweater. He loved the sound of his voice when he actually spoke loud enough for him to hear it. He loved when he laughed. And not that nervous giggle bullshit he gave his brother and strangers. No. Gilbert loved the laugh that only he got to see, the loud, free, snorty laugh that almost caused a glass of apple juice to be spat out all over the waitress in a diner downtown. He loved his love of animals and the amount of times he would drag Gil to the central park zoo just to check on the animals there. To, as Matthew put it, 'Make sure the zookeepers know what they're doing.' He loved how he wasn't exactly sexy, yet still managed to turn Gilbert on when his sweater dipped off his shoulder or his jeans were slightly tighter than usual. He loved how he wasn't really Canadian but he decided he was and Gilbert promised him he'd take him on a tour of Canada one day. They would see it all. Every province of Canada. He loved how happy that idea made Matthew. Hours upon hours Gilbert could think of reasons to love his boyfriend.

That was the fucking problem.

When did he get so soft!? When did Gilbert lose sight of his number one goal of fame to make way for the number one goal of making Matthew happy! When was the last time Gilbert got drunk just for the hell of it?! When was the last time he got a drink thrown in his face for hitting on some girl with huge tits? When was the last time Gilbert was really himself…? Did he ever even really know who he was to begin with…? Gilbert looked at Matthew and wondered if now would be a good time to run. Leave now while it wouldn't hurt as much. He could do it so easily...just run away. He had the money and now he had a job that could potentially make him famous. He didn't need Matthew anymore. Gilbert slowly got out of bed and pushed that one stray curl out of Matthew's face.  
"I'm so sorry syrup…"

* * *

**My note to yooou:  
GILBERT WHAT THE HELL MAN.  
Yeah that's pretty much it.  
Oh. What was wrong with Ludwig? He's probably just hopelessly in love with Feli.  
Yeah. Next chapter? Well...if it wasn't obvious enough...we see what happens with Matthew after Gil leaves!  
Now That's everything.  
AH!  
Again again again, Thanks so much for reading and supporting and all that. You guys are GREAT! :D  
Au revoir! **


	10. 9 - Not Worth it

Gilbert wasn't and most likely never would be a morning person. So it was a little shocking to say the least, when Matthew woke up without Gilbert next to him. Matthew sat up and rubbed his eyes with a yawn. 10am. Great. He had to be at work in an hour anyways. Figuring it would look a little bad if he showed up to work in the same clothes as the day before, Matthew decided to just borrow some of Gilbert's many articles of clothing. He didn't have any oversized sweaters so Matthew settled for one of the several shirts with a Prussian eagle on it. This one was white and red so at least Matthew still felt Canadian. Just as he slipped on a pair of Gil's baggy grey cargo pants, the door opened.  
"It's not pancakes but I thought I'd be a good person and make you breakfast."  
Matthew smiled when he saw Gil with a tray of food.  
"Well if it's not pancakes you're useless to me…" Matthew sighed sarcastically.  
"Well it's fruit loops so you're going to have to suck it up!" Gilbert set down the food on the bed and then looked at Matthew. "Those are my clothes."  
"Mmhm…are you jealous I look way better in them?" Matt flopped onto the bed with a stupid grin on his face that immediately made Gilbert smile. He figured he wasn't the only one who had changed because of this relationship. Matthew had too, he was more confident. He had found his voice with Gilbert.  
"Better? No fucking way. You do look sexy as fuck though. Then again…the awesomeness of the Prussian eagle is enough to make anyone reach the height of sexiness…" He winked. Matthew went bright red.  
"I-I-…well…I-I'm not r-really uhm…" At least that much hadn't changed about Matthew…He was still a blushing mess when it came to anything even close to the topic of sex.  
"Hey. Stop that. Yes you are and you're also adorable" Gilbert flinched slightly, the guilt was tearing him apart. He had actually almost run away last night. He may have only gotten as far as the lobby when he ran into Elizaveta, causing him to remember when that jackass had beaten Mattie up for being gay. He quickly remembered how instantaneously murderous he had felt when someone had hurt Matthew and he remembered how he said he would never let anyone hurt Matthew again, including himself. Gilbert was forced to think about how Matthew would feel if he left and he realized he couldn't bring himself to hurt him like that. So he went back and just watched Matthew sleep peacefully all night. Forced to think about how absolutely selfish he was. Leave Matthew? How the fuck did he think that would ever be a good idea?!  
"So tell me about your first day filming! How was it!?" Matthew spoke with a mouthful of fruit loops, making him look a bit more like his brother.  
"It was…it was pretty fucking great syrup." Gilbert explained every detail of his day. He explained how easy it was for him to get into character and how much he loved most of the cast members other than that one creepy Russian guy who's character was probably even creepier on the actual show. He told Matthew about how long it took to do his hair and make up even though he ended up looking exactly the same as he normally did. Finally he explained the feeling he got whenever he was about to read a line.  
"It…it felt like home Mattie…it was only my first day but I've never felt like I've belonged somewhere more than I belonged there…"  
"I'm so happy you liked it Gil…" Matthew said, taking Gilbert's hand. Goddamn it. Gilbert couldn't handle how stupid it would have been if he had ran away from Matthew…  
"Yeah…totally, syrup. So! Enough about me! How many university acceptance letters have you gotten yet?" Gilbert grinned. Matthew raised an eyebrow; Gilbert actually _didn't _want to talk about himself?  
"Uhm…none yet really…Well…I did get one. Uhm Gil is something wrong? You seem weird." Matthew was being quieter than usual, Gilbert could be a bit dense sometimes but he wasn't an idiot.  
"No I'm fine. Mattie what university was it?" Gilbert asked bluntly.  
"Oh it's uhm...a really nice one."  
"Shit. How far away is it?" Gilbert's heart sank.  
"I-I don't know what you're t-"  
"Matthew! How far is the university!"  
"Gilbert... I uhm...Well…the flight is only like an hour really…but uhm…if you wanted to drive there it would be about…uhm…4 hours maybe…" Matthew murmured and Gilbert quickly thought about it.  
"Fuck Matthew it's in Canada isn't it?" Gilbert knew he was screwed. Matthew loved Canada and to go to school there would be an absolute dream for him. He couldn't stop Matthew from going no matter how badly he wanted to.  
"Uhm…yeah…G-Guelf…Ontario."  
"Like I would fucking know where that is…" Gilbert huffed.  
"I-I haven't accepted it yet Gil…I'll only go there if I don't get in anywhere else. Don't be mad…"  
"I'm not fucking mad!"  
"G-Gil please don't yell...it's not like I'm leaving you for good!"  
"I'm not yelling! I'm not mad! I just want to know why the hell you would leave me like that!"  
"Gil…I have to go to work now. When we can actually talk about this without you yelling at me then let me know…" Matthew sighed and grabbed his things. Gilbert stayed silent as he left the room. Him and Matthew had never really fought before, of course there were silly arguments about which avenger was the best (Matthew insisted it was Hawkeye but Gilbert fought for Captain America) or which country had the coolest national anthem (to which Gilbert always insisted it was the Prussian national anthem only for Matthew to exclaim that Prussia was dead and then Gilbert would get pissy for a while and just yell LONG LIVE PRUSSIA to anyone who tried to talk to him.) But this fight actually left both of them feeling mad. Gilbert was mad that Matthew could be so selfish as to leave him while he went off to university in Canada. Matthew was mad Gilbert could be so selfish as to deny him his education in Canada while he stayed in New York to live his dream. What? Gilbert could have his dream of fame and he couldn't have his? Ridiculous. Matthew spent his entire shift at work silently complaining to himself about Gilbert and how selfish he was…mostly he was just trying to ignore the fact that he still managed to love Gilbert no matter how ridiculous he acted. And Gilbert was trying to ignore the fact that no matter how hard he tried to point out Matthew's flaws…he just couldn't. And every time Gilbert found himself getting sort of bored…his mind immediately turned to. 'I should text Mattie.' 'I should go see Syrup at work.' 'I should call Matt…'  
"Damnit…I need a fucking life!" Gilbert groaned. Eventually, approximately 32 minutes later, Gilbert had decided that being mad at Matthew sucked and wasn't really worth it.

Gilbert knew where Matthew lived. He'd just never been there before. So he decided to do what any awesome boyfriend would do and show up at his house. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon so Matthew should have been home from work. Gilbert found the fire escape to Matthew's apartment and easily climbed up it to the 3rd floor. Matthew's house. Perfect. Gilbert grinned when he looked through the window and he saw Matthew sitting at a shabby looking desk, chatting with someone on facebook or something. Matthew had a facebook?  
"Pst. Syrup!" Gilbert tapped the glass and Matthew spun in his chair and Gilbert groaned when the window slid open.  
"Hah! Wrong room bro!" Of course it was Alfred.  
"Is Syrup home?"  
"Who Mattie? Yeah he's in his room being a nerd! Come on in!" Alfred cackled and went back to his desk.  
"Oh, awesome." Gil climbed in through the window and started to wander through the apartment. It was tiny. The kitchen was part of the living room, there was old ripped up curtains, a tv that looked like it was from the stone ages with two picture frames on top of it. Gilbert took a second to look at the photos. One was of what looked like a young Matthew with what Gilbert assumed to be his mother. And the other was of Alfred and what looked like his father. Those were the only photos in the house, everything else was bare. Gilbert started to get nervous so he looked in the fridge to see what they had. It was basically empty. A few pudding cups, a six pack of sprite, leftover Chinese food boxes and a bottle of maple syrup. That was it. Gilbert bit his lip and went to the only other room in the house besides Alfreds.  
"Alfred what have I told you about knocking befor-...Gil?" Matthew wanted to die on the spot. The rich and almost famous Gilbert was in his run down, piece of shit apartment. "G-Gil I told you not to come here..."  
"Matthew...I...Are you...poor...?"

* * *

**My note to you:  
Ah just one problem after the other. Well...Mattie being poor isn't a problem...is it? Hopefully Gil will be ok with it...  
As always I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your reviews and support for this story... It's really great to be able to share something I love to do with you guys!  
See you next chapter! :D**


	11. 10 - Promises

"Matthew...I...Are you...poor...?"  
"Y-You w-weren't supposed to know..." Matthew sniffled, already on the verge of tears.  
"Y-You're only 18 where are your parents?" Gilbert was simply in shock, how could he not know something like this about his boyfriend!?  
"I-I...we don't have any...n-not anymore...G-Gil I...I wasn't lying to you o-ok? I-I never said I-I had money I j-just didn't w-want to t-tell you! That's all! Please don't be mad...!"  
Suddenly everything made more sense. Why they only ever went to Gilbert's house. Why Matthew didn't like to talk about his parents. Why Matthew only wore oversized, old, dorky sweaters. Why Alfred wore the same bomber jacket each day. Why Matthew hated missing even 2 minutes of work. Why Matthew refused to go shopping with Gil. Why Matthew never failed to give change to a homeless person.  
"S-Syrup I'm not mad...wh-why would I be mad at you for this? I...I'm mad at _myself_ for not realizing! Mattie I could have been helping you this whole time! I...I could have helped..." Gilbert pulled Matthew into a tight hug.  
"No..no no this isn't your fault...you don't have to do anything..." Matthew sniffled again, letting Gilbert sit on his creaky single bed with him, Gilbert made sure to hold Matthew's hand tight. "I uhm...I should explain..."  
"You don't have to syrup...I-I...I'm awesome remember? I don't need your boring life story!" Gilbert tried to play it off like he didn't care but in reality all he wanted was to know how someone as smart and sweet as Matthew had ended up like this.  
"Gil it's ok...um... Well Alfred and I were actually raised separately. Our Mom was french, she raised me. And our Dad was British, he raised Al. My Mom raised me in Quebec mostly...but we came to America a lot to see Al and stuff..."  
"Wait...Quebec in Canada? I thought you weren't really from there..." Gilbert murmured, he was being quieter than usual.  
"Yeah I...I tell people I'm from here now. I-I just don't want to explain the whole...Al and I were raised in 2 countries thing." Matthew took a deep breath and Gilbert squeezed his hand. When I was 13 my mom got really sick so she sent me to live with Al and my dad over here. But when I got here...I hadn't seen Al in 2 years. Apparently Dad skipped town on him a while back to pursue an acting career in hollywood. So Al and I were on our own."  
"What? H-He just LEFT you guys!? At 13 fucking years old!?" At this point Gilbert was pissed. Mattie and Al had just been abandoned. Tossed aside like they were nothing...which was the opposite of the truth. Matthew Williams was so so far from nothing...Matthew Williams was everything...everything to Gilbert.  
"Gil calm down it's ok...Al and I turned out just fine without him. I mean, sometimes I'm a little hungrier than I'd like to be. And sometimes it'd be nice to own clothes not out of a donation bin...but ever since I met you...it doesn't really matter anymore. You take really good care of me." Matthew smiled and kissed Gilbert's cheek gently.  
"Matthew how are you paying for university?" Gilbert gasped.  
"...scholarships." Matthew murmured, seeming almost ashamed. "I uhm...I actually got accepted into 3 universities...2 of them are close to here. But the only scholarship program I got accepted to was in Canada...G-Gil if I could stay here with you I would b-but I can't! I-I can't turn down a scholarship Gil I c-can't! I worked hard for this! I...I want to go to school Gil..." Matthew hugged Gil tight and let his tears be soaked up by the Prussian eagle design in the Albino's shirt.  
"Let me pay f-"  
"No."  
"Mat-"  
"No."  
"Matthew! You have to let me p-"  
"No!"  
"Please. I want to pay for your t-"  
"No!"  
"Syrup."  
"Nope."  
"Syrup we both know my family is absolutely fucking loaded. It wouldn't hurt my family a single bit to pay for you to go to an awesome school closer to here."  
"Gil...I can't take that kind of money from your family..." Matthew sighed, it would be nice to be able to stay in New York to go to school but there was no way he would let Gilbert's family pay.  
"Then don't take it from my family. Take it from me."  
"Wh-What..."  
"Syrup I have an awesome acting job now and let's be honest here I'm making a shit ton of cash from it. Soon enough I'll be able to pay for your tuition no problem." Gilbert smiled, he meant it. Paying for Matthew to go to school would not even begin to be classified as a hardship for him.  
"Gil, Guelph really isn't that far...besides. We won't break up. We'll just be a little further away is all. It will give me time to study and you time to work on your acting career. Right...? I can't let you pay for my schooling Gil. This scholarship is a miracle. I'll see you on every break I get...Ok?" Matthew smiled and held both of Gilbert's hands. Gilbert couldn't even fake a smile, he pressed his forehead against Matthew's and said in the softest voice he could muster,  
"I don't want to be just a little further away from you...I want you to stay right here with me..."  
"Hey." Matthew smiled and kissed Gilbert, "You're so not awesome when you're upset. Cheer up we have plenty of time before I have to leave. Wana stay the night here? If you're not scared of a couple rats, that is." Matthew giggled, yet somehow Gilbert knew he was serious.  
"Disgusting..." Gilbert tried to cheer himself up a little bit. "You and your brother can come over to my place on two awesome conditions."  
"Mm? What's that?"  
"The first one is you have to make your pancakes tomorrow because those are fucking awesome."  
"I can manage that." Matt giggled.  
"The second is...stay."  
"...Stay?"  
"At my place. Just...live with me. Your brother too. We have plenty of room for you guys. There's no way I can sleep at night in my huge comfy bed knowing you come home to...this."  
"G-Gil are you asking me to move in with you...?" Matthew blushed heavily and Gilbert couldn't help but think about how adorable he was.  
"Yeah. I am...I mean...you're going off to university soon anyways. And by the time you come home for christmas I'll probably have my own place for you to stay." Gilbert smiled proudly and squeezed Matthew's hands. "What do ya say syrup? Live with me?"  
Matthew took a second to think about how fast they were moving. Then Matthew took a second to realize he didn't care. He loved his obnoxious, loud mouthed, awesome boyfriend and that's what mattered most.  
"Yes...yes I'll live with you. I love you Gil..." Matthew hugged Gilbert as tight as he could. "Actually this is perfect...rent is due tomorrow and I was really worried I would have to sleep with the landlord again..."  
Gilbert had never sprung backwards so quickly in his life. He had a death grip on Matthew's shoulders and felt like he was ready to kill anyone who even _thought_ of _looking_ at Matthew.  
"Matthew."  
"Woah woah G-Gil! I was kidding!" Matthew laughed, "I was just kidding ok!? I'm not sleeping with anyone ok!?"  
"Y-You're not?" Gil released the death grip he had but he was still mad at Matthew for telling such an awful joke. He didn't stay mad for long though once he saw how hard Matthew was laughing. It was a rare sight to see Matthew so loud and open with his feelings.  
"Y-Your face!" Matthew burst out into another round of laughter, falling back onto the bed.  
"Yeah yeah yeah...hilarious." Gilbert rolled his eyes but kept smiling. "You fucking scared me you syrup drinking asshole..." Matthew managed to wrap his arms around Gilbert and kiss his cheek.  
"You love me though." Matthew grinned smugly.  
"Psh no I don't."  
"Mmhm."  
"I don't."  
"Well I love you. A lot. Stupid." Matthew smiled again and squeezed Gil closer.  
"Yeah yeah. I know...you're a moose humping asshole but...I'm going to miss you when you move to Canada..." Gilbert sighed, not moving as Matthew clung to him.  
"I'll be back at Christmas break to take you skating in front of the Rockerfeller Centre tree ok? Just like I said I would."  
"Promise, Syrup?"  
"Promise, Albino."

* * *

**My note to you!:  
Aw fluffy floof. Of course Gil was ok with it he loves Mattie! :3 Next chapter will be skipping ahead quite a bit of time so look forward to that! As always thank you to all of your reviews, likes and support of this story! We still have a ways to go until the end and to be honest I haven't even decided on an ending yet...heh. It'll be good though I promise!  
But anyhoo! See you next chapter!  
Adios amigos! :D**


	12. 11 - Four Months

'_I just landed!'  
'Going through customs now...long line up.'  
'Half way there.'  
'Waiting for my bag...'  
'Still waiting for my bag...why aren't you answering your phone?'  
'You're picking me up at the airport right?'  
'Got my bag!'  
'Can't wait to see you...'  
'Gil, I love you. I'm coming through now.' _

Matthew was the most excited he'd been in weeks. It was Christmas time and Matthew hadn't seen his boyfriend in 4 months. It was hard at first. Even though they had skyped and texted whenever they could, keeping each other as close as possible despite the distance between them, it was hard. It was hard being able to see Gilbert on a screen and hear the sound of his laughter over the slight crackle of the laptop speaker, but not being able to touch him. It was hard not being able to feel how warm Gilbert was compared to him or smell the familiar scent of birdseed, chocolate and a hint of beer.  
Most people would think that birdseed and chocolate with a hint of beer would smell disgusting, but it was just so...Gilbert. Matthew had learned to love the smell of Gil and associate it with home. Matthew also made sure to watch Gilbert on TV whenever he was on. His first episode of _Your Stars_ aired in October and the fans had gone nuts for him. His character Jonathan was an absolute hit. Gilbert was featured in talk-show after talk-show and every celebrity buzzfeed out there. Gilbert was climbing the ladder to fame faster than anyone else had in years and Matthew couldn't have been more proud of him.  
As for Matthew, his life was quiet as usual. He was busy with his Zoology university courses and loving every second of studying in Canada. But the important thing was he was on break now and finally got to see Gilbert.

Matthew walked into the arrival zone already grinning as his eyes scanned the busy room to see his boyfriend's head of white hair. No such luck. The smile faded when he realized Gilbert was no where to be found. Matthew eventually spotted a man in a suit wearing a pea-cap and holding a sign with his name on it.  
"U-Uhm...I'm Matthew W-Williams...s-sir." Matthew murmured, slightly upset that Gilbert wasn't there to pick him up from the airport.  
"Oh! Mr. Beilschmidt sends his apologies that he couldn't be here. I am here to take you to your new apartment Mr. Wilson."  
"Oh...uhm...W-Williams...M-Matthew Williams." Matthew murmured. People were always getting his name wrong and normally Matthew didn't even bother to correct them but at this point he was mad anyways. What? Was Gilbert too good for him now? It was a really fancy, high-end car Gilbert had sent for him. Matthew rolled his eyes. Stupid car.  
The door was opened for Matthew and he sighed.  
"You don't have to open the door for m-"  
"And what fun would that be syrup?" Gilbert smirked from the inside of the car. Matthew immediately lit up and threw himself into the backseat with Gilbert and hugged him tight.  
"Y-You came...!" Matthew mumbled into Gilbert's...suit jacket? Was Gilbert wearing a suit?  
"Course I came. I'm awesome. Too awesome to miss mein boyfriend coming home from university!" And there was Gilbert's familiar cackling. "I...I really missed you syrup..." Gil managed to pull Matthew even closer as the car door was shut. At this point Matthew was straddling Gilbert with his legs either side of the albino's hips, and had his arms settled tightly around him as Gilbert's settled around his waist. It had only been 4 months but it had felt like 4 years.  
"I-I missed you too..." The car started to move, pushing Matthew tighter against Gilbert. "I thought you didn't come..."  
"Sorry...I wanted to go in and meet you, I really did...but things have been crazy lately...my first few episodes just aired and I guess people really like how awesome I am huh?"  
"Mmhm" Matthew could only focus on how warm Gilbert was and how nice he smelled. "Gil why are you wearing a suit?"  
"Because I wanted to look sexy for you! ...But also because I just got out of filming like half an hour ago. But mostly the sexy part." Matthew giggled, at least Gil hadn't changed too much.  
"You only got out half an hour ago? It's like 1am..."  
"Yeah...we went a little overboard today. We're in a rush to get the season finale done..."  
"I watched you on TV...you were really amazing Gil." Matthew smiled, not yet having the heart to release Gilbert from his death grip of a hug.  
"You don't have to watch me on TV syrup...I know the whole celebrity thing bores you."  
"Gil of course I'm going to watch you on TV...I wouldn't miss it for the world..." Matthew smiled and realized he hadn't kissed Gilbert yet.  
"Well I-" Matthew cut Gilbert off by kissing him passionately. Needless to say, there was no complaints from Gilbert. Both of them almost managed to topple over in the backseat as the car turned a corner. Luckily the windows were tinted so no one would wonder why there was an albino making out with a Canadian in the backseat of one of the nicest cars they'd seen in their life. Gilbert's driver didn't pay any attention to them as he continued to drive through the streets of Manhattan, which was lucky for Matthew seeing as he probably would have died on the spot if he realized someone was watching them.  
"I love you..." It was Gilbert that broke the kiss to say it first.  
"I love you too Gil..."  
"If you don't mind me interrupting, Mr. Beilschmidt we're home." The driver turned to face us and Gil grinned.  
"Thanks Terry! Mattie you're going to love our new place c'mon!" Gilbert grinned and dragged Matthew out of the car. Matthew smiled at the fact that Gilbert referred to it as their place. Terry got Matthew's scuffed up old hockey bag out of the trunk and Matthew, polite as always, thanked him for doing so.  
"Gil oh my god this place is amazing..." Matthew gasped looking at the building.  
"Aw c'mon you haven't even seen the actual apartment yet! Come on!" Gilbert grabbed Matthew's hand and pulled him into the pristine lobby of the building where they were greeted by a couple of security guards and a doorman. They got into the elevator and Gilbert flashed a key card for the top floor of the building.  
"Gil this is so exciti-" Now it was Gilbert's turn to cut Matthew off with a kiss. He pinned Matthew against the elevator wall and kissed him breathless...Gilbert always was one for being dramatic.  
"Sorry Syrup. I just always wanted to do that." He smirked.  
"D-Do what? Make out with me in an elevator?" Matthew giggled.  
"No. Make out with you in _this_ elevator!" Gilbert grinned and kissed Matthew again as the elevator doors opened to reveal their apartment. The first thing Matthew saw was a beautiful view overlooking central park, he ran straight to the window, dropping his hockey bag along the way.  
"Maple...Gil this view is amazing! This...this place is amazing!" Matthew grinned like a kid in a candy store as he explored the apartment. Gilbert just smiled as he watched Mattie look around. "Gilbird!" Matthew laughed when Gilbird landed in his hair.  
"He missed you too syrup...You hungry? Up for a midnight snack?" Gilbert yawned, opening the fridge. Matthew attacked him with a hug from behind.  
"No I'm fine...I just love you a whole lot but you're exhausted...let's go to bed ok?"  
"Yeah...let's go to bed syrup..."

* * *

**My note to you:  
The fluffiest of the fluff. Am I right?  
As usual I hope you continue to enjoy and such!  
Next chapter Matthew and Gilbert have some Christmas fun in New York city! It'll most likely still be pretty fluffy but it gets serious towards the end I swear... Gilbert has a proposition for Matthew...Ooooh. We'll see...we'll see...!  
Thanks for your support as always!  
Byezers!**


	13. 12 - Event

"Why did you want to come ice skating here if you can't even skate!?" Matthew laughed as Gilbert managed to fall on his ass for the 8th time in the past 15 minutes.  
"Hey! I am awesome at this! I'm just...enjoying the ground too!" Gilbert smiled as Matthew helped him up again, he held both of Gil's hands and began to skate backwards and pull him along the ice. It was a beautiful clear day, it wasn't too cold out and the Rockefeller ice rink was full of people...most of which actually knew how to skate.  
"Damn syrup how are you so good at this!?"  
"Gil. I'm Canadian." Matthew laughed and pulled Gilbert's hands quickly towards him so he could kiss him.  
"Well that's cheating." Gilbert smiled, he really had missed Matthew...he was only here for 2 weeks and then he'd miss him for another 4 months all over again before he could see him for spring break.  
"So how's Alfred doing? Whenever I ask him I just get 'Totally freaking great dude!' Is he doing alright...?" Matthew continued to pull Gil along the ice with a smile on his face, letting Gil's warm hands heat up his cold ones.  
"You know it's pretty freaky how you can just sound like your brother like that...Yeah yeah I've been keeping an eye on him he's fine. He moved in with that guy Arthur a month or so after you left. Arthur is in university and Al is working for some comic book artist's assistant or something...they do a lot of super hero events down there and he's 'basking in it's heroic glory!' as he puts it. He's definitely doing ok for himself."  
"Oh thats good. And we're still going over to his place for christmas right?"  
"Ja..." Gilbert groaned, "If I have to...I don't get why we can't just stay home...I don't get to see you for very long Mattie I want you to stay..." He sighed, before Matthew got to say anything 2 girls skated over.  
"Oh my gosh Oh my gosh! Uhm! M-My friend and I were just wondering...a-are you Jonny from Your Stars?" One of the girls squealed.  
"Oh.." Gilbert looked at Matthew quickly for reassurance, Matthew just smiled as the usually did. "Yeah. Yeah That's me. Gilbert Beilschmidt!" He grinned, the girls then took a few pictures with him and got him to sign their hats before leaving.  
"Sorry about that Mattie...it's hard not to get recognized when you're an albino." He laughed, Matthew linked his arm with his and they began to skate slowly again.  
"That's alright...it's kind of cool dating a celebrity. Sometimes I forget I'm dating the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt..."  
"Ja ja...let's talk serious Mattie. What'd you get me for christmas? I need to know!"  
"You wish! You'll have to wait! It's only 2 days away!"  
"Is it sex. I hope it's sex." Gilbert teased.  
"Oh hah hah...no it's better." Matthew put his head down as he blushed. Him and Gilbert still hadn't had sex yet and Gilbert would never admit that the idea didn't just terrify Matthew. Gilbert just liked to tease Matthew about it to act like he wasn't scared too. Of course they both _wanted _to. But...easier said than done.  
"Better than seeing the entirety of your sexiness!? No way." Gilbert winked and Matthew punched his arm as expected.  
"C'mon pervert. Let's go for lunch."  
The whole day was spent wandering around New York. It was the day before Christmas Eve so everyone was rushing around stores for last minute gifts and ingredients for Christmas dinner. Matthew and Gilbert didn't really notice any of the people though...the whole day was spent focusing on each other. By about 7pm they were finally back at their apartment and Gilbert had somehow convinced Matthew to spend the evening watching movies of Shakespeare plays and making out on the couch. It didn't take much convincing though. Matthew was more than happy to spend an evening making out with his boyfriend whom he hadn't seen in 4 months.  
However it seemed like something was out to get them because every time the kisses grew more heated or a piece of clothing was threatening to be lost...Gilbert's phone rang. First it was his agent asking him to do an audition, then his lawyer about copyrighting or something, then his agent again about another role, then Lovino wanting to go out for drinks and then finally after a call from his publicist, Gilbert turned off his phone.  
"You're popular..." Matthew murmured as he switched off his phone.  
"Tell me about it...I never realized how much my phone rings...now that I'm doing something way more important."  
"Making out with me is important?" Matthew laughed.  
"Duh. Stupid." Gilbert smiled and kissed Matthew again before sighing heavily. "Actually syrup I have something I've been hiding from you..."  
"Is it that you're a virgin? Because I already knew that. Francis told me."  
"Wh-...What? Damnit Franny! Is that _seriously_ what you two were talking about in French!? No Mattie thats...I don't even know what to say about that but no I was going to tell you that I have a red carpet event to go to tomorrow night."  
"Oh. That's alright I'm here for 2 weeks Gil one night on my own won't hurt."  
"Thats the thing Mattie I...I want you to come with me...my publicist thinks it would be really good to have my boyfriend there with me plus I really want you to meet the people I work with and I-I really want everyone to see how amazing my boyfriend is not to mention you'd look sexy in a tuxedo and I-" Matthew grabbed Gil's shoulders and tried to silence his rambling.  
"Gil! Gil! Gilbert! Shh! I...You know I hate doing things like that...things that...that draw attention to me..." Matthew blushed. He wanted to _want_ to go to the event with Gilbert. But crowds of people looking at him and taking pictures of him just sounded horrifying...  
"I-I know Mattie but you'd like it I swear! I won't make you but...I at least thought I should ask...it's a Christmas charity event and I've been invited! There are guna be a ton of celebrities there and it's an animal charity so I thought you'd like it..." Gil pulled Matthew into a hug and kissed his cheek.  
"It's...for animals?" Matthew seemed interested now.  
"Yeah! It's run by WWF! The american CEO Carter Roberts is going to be there and everything! Please come Mattie...it's only like...10 minutes on the red carpet and then the rest of it is inside talking to awesome people who care about animals and stuff like you! You could even meet some people high up in the WWF about...about polar bears and stuff! ...Please it would mean a lot if you came... this is my first event that I've been invited to...I want you there with me..." Gilbert pleaded, looking into Matthew's eyes.  
"Oh maple..." Matthew sighed, "Ok...ok ok fine I'll go. But you're buying me something to wear and promise me that I don't have to stay on the red carpet too long ok...?" Matthew sighed and Gilbert grinned, hugging Matthew tight.  
"Really!? You're so awesome syrup I love you so much!"  
"I know...you better love me. And now you can't complain about going to Alfred and Arthur's place for christmas!"  
"We both know Arthur's cooking is going to kill us."  
"Maybe Al is cooking!"  
"Syrup. Think about that sentence...if Al is in charge of food we'll be eating McDonald's for Christmas dinner."  
"...We're going to get food poisoning aren't we."  
"Ja. Your Christmas present to me better be pretty freaking great..." Gilbert chuckled, kissing Matthew lovingly again.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Gilbert woke up to the smell of pancakes and maple syrup. If that wasn't the most glorious thing he'd ever smelled he didn't know what was... He got out of bed and pulled on a shirt to go into his kitchen to find Matthew cooking with Gilbird nested comfortably in his hair just as he liked it. Matthew was humming along to some jingle that was playing on a commercial on TV. Gilbert made quick work of slipping his arms around Matthew's waist and hugging him close.  
"Oh! I-I didn't hear you get up...morning! I...I made pancakes!" Matthew grinned as Gilbird hopped from his hair to Gilbert's.  
"You are a fucking saint...what are you watching?" Gilbert glanced back over at the TV.  
"The new episode of Your Stars. I only usually watch to see you but I've actually gotten sort of addicted to it..." Matthew sighed, Gilbert knew how much Mattie hated TV shows like the one he was in...but Your Stars was notorious for getting even the manliest of men addicted.  
"Ooh! I'm in this one a lot! This one was fucking awesome to film! Wait til you see the bloopers! Man, Lovi spilled that glass of water like 8 times!" Gilbert laughed and quickly made his way to the couch to watch himself on TV. Matthew finished up cooking before joining him on the couch, resting his head on the albino's shoulder. As they watched Matthew found himself pulling Gilbert closer and closer. He flirted with one of the girls on the show A LOT. Well...ok maybe it wasn't Gilbert flirting with her...it was just his character. But it still made Matthew feel threatened...she was really pretty. Matthew was just kind of...there.  
"...are you going to get together with her...?" Matthew murmured as they watched a scene of them dancing together in the fucking moonlight. He of course was referring to Gilbert's character Jonny...right.  
"Hm? Oh! Yeah Jonny and Charlotte! They have a really really big fight at the end of the season but I'm pretty sure next season they'll be together!" Gilbert grinned, "The actress who plays her is freaking awesome her name is Meena Sawhney and she's obsessed with birds! I told her one day she should come over and meet Gilbird but she's so busy filming and all that..."  
Matthew stayed quiet. It was ridiculous for him to be jealous but he couldn't help it! He lived in Canada and his boyfriend lived in New York.  
"SO!" Gilbert sprang up when there was another commercial break. "Let's eat these awesome pancakes and then buy you a tux for the event tonight!"  
"Oh...maple."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Gil I can't."  
"Mattie I'll be with you the whole time ok? You look sexy."  
"G-Gil theres a lot of people..."  
"Just focus on me ok? You'll do great they'll all love you. And even if you suck major ass I'll always love you alright? You're so freaking awesome Syrup..." Gilbert pressed a soft kiss to Matthews lips, "Ready?"  
"...I guess so..."  
"I love you."  
"I'll answer that if I survive tonight..." Matthew sighed and Gilbert grinned as the limousine door opened and they were greeted by flashing cameras and screaming fans. It was hell for Matthew at first. People shouted questions at him asking who he was and if he was dating Gilbert, who made his suit, who cut his hair, where was he from, how old was he, how long had he known Gil. Matthew felt like he was going to pass out until Gil came to the rescue. He answered every question flawlessly, took pictures with fans and signed autographs without leaving Matthew's side. He looked so happy...all these people were paying attention to him and Gil was in heaven. Matthew looked around at all the other celebrities arriving and recognized a few of them from Your Stars, a few from magazines. Occasionally Matthew would have a fanboy moment as he saw a scientist or director of the WWF arrive and he would tug on Gilbert's sleeve like a little kid.  
"Gil oh my gosh do you know who that is...?"  
"Hey Syrup let me do something real quick? After I do this we can go inside ok?"  
"Wh-What...?"  
Gilbert swiftly dipped Matthew down slightly and kissed him passionately. People went NUTS. Matthew had no idea Gil was this famous...then again he was pretty hot. Matthew was finally pulled inside by Gil and the atmosphere was much nicer. The room was filled with the quiet chatter of celebrities conversing over glasses of champagne. Elegant classical music played by a pianist on the small stage at the front of the room. Matthew grinned.  
"Hey Gil! Isn't that the guy who used to live below you? Roderich?"  
"Oh yeah...Hey you know when we first met we did that awesome drama project together?"  
"How could I forget that Gil...? You managed to turn The Merchant of Venice into an epic love story between Antonio and Bassanio during world war 2 set in prisoner of war camps in Prussia." Matthew giggled.  
"I know I know I'm so friggen awesome. But...Roderich was there when I realized I was in love with you..."  
"Wh-What...? When w-was that...?" Matthew blushed heavily.  
"...Our first rehearsal...when I almost kissed you and paid for that cab for you to get home..."  
"Oh...Oh my god..." Matthew's blush only deepened as he hugged Gilbert tight.  
"Gilly! Oh my Gosh you two are so cute!" A voice squealed.  
"Gilly...?" Matthew murmured, turning to realize it was Meena...the actress who played Gilbert's love interest on Your Stars. Of course she was there.  
"Oh! Hey Meena! I had no clue you were going to be here tonight!" Gil grinned. Meena introduced herself to Matthew politely and Matthew suddenly felt desperate to be closer to Gilbert. He never would have pegged himself as the jealous type but right now it was clear that Gilbert was to be his and ONLY his.  
"Gil let's dance...!"  
"Mattie you hate dancing..."  
"But I really want to dance..."  
"Alright Syrup! No complaints here! I'll talk to you later Meena!" Gilbert smiled and Matthew pulled him to where everyone was elegantly swaying to what Matthew easily recognized to be Traumerei by Robert Schumann. It was a beautiful song and Matthew was actually more than happy to be held close to his boyfriend and swayed gently as the song flowed on. And Gilbert in no way minded. It was definitely a little weird that Matthew suddenly wanted to dance so badly...but he figured it was probably just because he really liked the song Roderich was playing or something.  
As the night moved on Matthew seemed to be having more and more of a good time. He beamed at all the different biologists and zoologists he met. Gilbert even managed to get Matthew to talk to the CEO of WWF, who immediately took a liking to Matthew and said that WWF would be lucky to have him once he had graduated with all his credentials. Matthew looked like he could have passed out from joy. There were a few awkward moments where Gil would have to act as Matthew's voice, he still wasn't too good with speaking up. The auction and donation part of the event began and Matthew and Gilbert had a hell of a time being typical teenagers, laughing their asses off at pictures of funny looking animals they could sponsor and Matthew begged Gilbert to 'adopt' a polar bear. Then Matthew had to explain to Gilbert how they didn't actually _get_ a polar bear...they would just provide the funds to look after it in a zoo or a care facility somewhere. Gilbert thought it was stupid they didn't actually get a polar bear because in Gil's words 'It would make a badass henchman!' But like Gilbert could say no to Matthew's puppy dog eyes. It only got better when Matthew found out they got to name the polar bear they adopted. Matthew named it Kumajiro after a toy Polar Bear he had always had. Gilbert didn't know why it's name was Kumajiro, but it was cute seeing him so excited anyways. The night ended with them dancing together again...they were barely even dancing. It was more just...holding each other and never wanting to let go or some cliché like that.  
"...I love you Gilbert."  
"I love you too Matthew...Thank you for being here tonight..." He placed a small kiss to Matthew's forehead and Matthew smiled, it wasn't often that Gil used his actual name...so when he did it was really special. "Ready to go home...? After all we do have to be at your brothers place tomorrow..."  
"Yeah...let's go...just after this song ok...?" Matthew said softly. A few minutes later they walked out hand in hand. It was almost midnight so there was still quite a lot of people out and about the streets of Manhattan. A few minutes later Gilbert's driver picked them up. A few minutes later they were halfway home. A few more minutes later Matthew was asleep on Gilbert's shoulder. A few more minutes later Gilbert was carrying Matthew to their apartment. And in the last few minutes of Christmas eve, Gilbert was getting a very asleep Matthew out of his tuxedo and laying him in bed.  
"Merry Christmas Syrup..." Gil smiled, hoping this was the start of the first of many Christmases they would spend together.

* * *

**My note to you:  
Oh my goodness gracious I had so much fun writing this they are so damn CUTE.  
Also that song I mentioned, Traumerei. Honestly if you have time give it a quick listen. It really is beautiful.  
This chapter was hella long and the next chapter might be as well just because I don't want to drag this out through a billion chapters when it's honestly all just fluff. Don't worry I have some actual drama coming up eventually I just want them to be happy for a bit first! ...so maybe you should worry. Your choice!  
Aaaaas always thank you thank you for reviewing and reading and hopefully enjoying! I love writing this and I really love that all of you guys enjoy reading it!  
Merry Christmas in July!  
Or...August I suppose it is now...  
See you soon!**


	14. 13 - Presents and Firsts

"Mmff...s-stop..." Matthew swatted something away that Gilbert was dangling in front of his face while he was half asleep. It would be too simple to say Gilbert was acting like a child on Christmas morning...because that's exactly what he was. Gilbert was straddling a half asleep Matthew and dangling mistletoe in his face.  
"C'mooonnnnnnnn Syrup! Kiss the awesome Gilbert!"  
"No. I'm sleeping..."  
"Since when do you sleep in later than me!? C'mon up and at 'em Syrup! It's Christmas!" Gilbert grinned and stuck the mistletoe in his face once more. Matthew eventually sat up and kissed Gilbert quickly before yawning. Gilbert had an atrociously wrapped present next to him.  
"Gil I thought you said we would do presents at Al's..."  
"We are! This is just the first part of your freaking amazing 3 part present! C'mon open it!" Gilbert shoved the present in his hands and Matthew giggled as he began to open it.  
"I get 3 presents huh? Well now I feel even with you because I got you 3 things as well! ...Gilbert what on earth is this?!" Matthew peeled back the wrapping paper and he burst out laughing when he revealed it was a huge, ugly navy sweater with a moose on it that had christmas fairy lights tangled up in it's antlers. There was snowflakes around him and on the back was a red maple leaf. Matthew giggled. It was pretty hideous.  
"I love it...!" Matthew grinned, he wasn't even lying. He did love it. Mostly because Gilbert must have tried pretty hard to find something this awful...but also because it had a moose and a maple leaf on it and it looked comfy as hell.  
"No way."  
"I do! Gil I love it and I'm going to wear it all day today!" Matthew grinned and hugged Gilbert. "Thank you so much..."  
"Aw c'mon Syrup! I picked the most disgusting sweater I could find! There's no way you like it!"  
"Well then you must not know me very well. Because I like anything you buy for me. Especially when it's a big ugly sweater!"  
"Anything I buy you huh? Awesome. You know I'm thinking you'd look pretty sexy in a dress, syrup." Gilbert smirked and Matthew blushed heavily before punching his arm.  
"Don't buy me a dress! Now shut up and get ready to go to Alfred's..."  
"Does that involve having a shower together?" Gilbert smirked and wiggled his eyebrows.  
"Shut up, virgin." Matthew stuck out his tongue and Gilbert took that as an invite to kiss him. Matthew blushed but kissed him back anyways. They both got dressed and ready to go to Alfred and Arthur's apartment. Matthew hadn't lied, he was wearing the ugly sweater and he was right, it was comfy as hell. It was huge on him and hung off his left shoulder a little bit which of course Gilbert had, since the moment they met, thought that was the sexiest thing in the world. They made their way to Al's place and as they rang the doorbell, Matthew grabbed Gilbert's hand.  
"Merry Christmas Gil."  
"What? Yeah Merry Christmas to y-" The door swung open and it was Antonio standing there grinning. "TONI!" Gilbert flung himself at the Spaniard and Matthew giggled.  
"Hola amigo!" Antonio laughed as he was hugged.  
"Heyyy! You guys are here! Merry freaking christmas!" Alfred grinned as they all made their way into the apartment and there was yelling coming from the kitchen.  
"MON DIEU YOU BURNT IT YOU TEA PISSING MOULDY CRUMPET BREATH _MERDE!_"  
"I DIDN'T BURN IT YOU WINE MOLESTING FROG ASSCRACK IT'S JUST RIGHT!"  
"Holy shit Francis is here too isn't he?" Gilbert grinned.  
"Uhh yeah. And Arthur doesn't like him too much." Alfred murmured and Gilbert hugged Matthew.  
"Syrup...You did this didn't you...?"  
"Merry Christmas Gilbert." Matthew smiled and kissed his cheek. Francis came out of the kitchen with his hair tied back and an apron on.  
"Gilbert! You're here!"  
"Franny!" Gilbert grinned and ran over and hugged his best friend. He couldn't believe that Matthew had done this for him. Flown in his best friends in the whole world all the way from Europe.  
"Bonjour mon ami! Gilbert you are looking so lovely! Merry Christmas! Oooo! Mathieu! It is so good to finally meet you in person! So tell me how many times have you and Gilbert made love!? Have you two discussed marriage!?" Francis grinned and hugged Matthew tight.  
"I...Uh...Uhm...W-well..."  
"Franny leave my boyfriend alone."  
"You're no fun anymore." Francis winked and ran back into the kitchen with a shriek, "YOU DON'T COOK THAT IN THE MICROWAVE!"  
"WELL THATS HOW I SODDING DO IT, FROG!"  
"HAS IT OCCURRED TO YOU THAT YOU DO IT WRONG!?"  
"PISS OFF NO ONE ASKED YOU!"  
And thats how Christmas day went. Arthur and Francis bickered over...basically everything, Gilbert managed to catch up with his best friends, Francis eventually kicked Arthur out of his own kitchen to prepare Christmas dinner alone. (Good thing he did. It was freaking delicious.) Arthur got Alfred a gift card to his favourite burger place in Manhattan, Alfred got Arthur a weird green bunny stuffed animal with wings, Matthew got Alfred a 5000 piece puzzle of the American flag (Alfred hates puzzles but Matthew knew he would spend hours doing this one just because it was the american flag...and he would despise every second of it.) The second part of Gilbert's gift to Matthew was a colossal polar bear stuffed animal. It was bigger than Matthew, it could have served as a bed. (Matthew spent the rest of Christmas day sitting on the giant bear that took up 90% of the living room. Gilbert may or may not have gotten a little jealous of the bear.)  
Overall it was a great way to spend christmas as long and Francis and Arthur were kept away from each other as much as possible. Alfred seemed more than ok sit close to Arthur instead anyways.  
"It's too bad your brother is straight. They'd be awesome together..." Gilbert murmured to Matthew at some point during the day. Matthew was too busy enjoying being swallowed up by the ginormous polar bear to really respond. But he agreed. Alfred and Arthur had always been close despite how different they were. Most people thought there was more going on than just friendship... those people would be correct. Eventually though everyone said their goodbyes and agreed to hang out on New Years as well. Antonio and Francis planned on being in New York for a few weeks anyways and now that Gilbert was famous, he knew where all the good parties were.  
Matthew and Gilbert were home by about 10 at night. They would have been home sooner but it took a while to get the almost 7 foot tall Polar bear home. Once the polar bear swallowed up the floor in front of their bed, Matthew collapsed onto it.  
"Where did you even find a bear this big...?" Matthew giggled as Gilbert flopped onto the bear with him and kissed his nose.  
"I adopted him off of the streets of the Antarctic! Yeah...I'm that awesome." Gilbert grinned.  
"Oh what a hero...I'm going to name him Gilbear after the man who bravely rescued him..." Matthew snuggled closer to Gil and kissed his cheek.  
"Really!? Syrup that is so fucking awesome! Now there's a Gilbird and a Gilbear!"  
"Yeah well you'll always be my favourite Gil. ...Hey I thought you said there was 3 parts to my Christmas present..." Matthew murmured as he remembered that he only got the ugly moose sweater (which he was still wearing) and Gilbear the polar bear (which they were now snuggling on).  
"Hm? Oh yeah...do you want it now?"  
"Well what is it...because I still have one more part to your present too..."  
"You first."  
"No you go first."  
"Gil you first...!" Matthew blushed.  
"You're cute. You first. Come on what is it."  
"Gil I can't go first! You go first!" Matthew nudged him and it was pretty dark in the room but he could have sworn he saw Gilbert blushing.  
"Ok fine...close your eyes." Gilbert murmured and Matthew did as he was told. He closed his eyes and listened to Gilbert move around a bit before he felt Gil sit on his hips and touch his cheek gently. Matthew already had a stupid grin on his face when Gilbert finally leaned down and kissed him lovingly and softly. Matthew quickly began to kiss back, wrapping his arms around Gilbert and pulling him down closer. Gilbert pulled away slightly.  
"Aw was that all...?" Matthew giggled.  
"Well...I want to know what you got me...!" Gilbert grinned.  
"Me." Matthew pulled Gilbert back down to kiss him passionately.  
"You're cute."  
"Shut up. Do you want it your not...?" Matthew blushed.  
"Do I want you? Fuck yes syrup!" Gilbert grinned and kissed Matthew breathless once again.  
"Wait...are we going to have our first time on a giant polar bear?"  
"That pretty much sums up our relationship doesn't it?" Gilbert cackled.  
"Gil...I don't wana get Gilbear all dirty..." Matthew pouted.  
"You know what else is dirty...?" Gilbert waggled his eye brows and Matthew kicked him off the polar bear.  
"You're disgusting. Get in bed."  
"Kinky!"  
"I hate you!" Matthew cried as Gilbert laid on their bed. Matthew climbed on top of him and kissed him gently.  
"That didn't taste like hate to me..." Gilbert mumbled and placed his hand on Matthew's lower back to pull him closer.  
"Yeah well...you're lucky you're a good kisser..." Matthew mumbled.  
"Thats not the only thing my mouth is good at..." Gilbert stuck out his tongue and Matthew slapped him playfully.  
"You're disgusting!"  
"Oh I can do disgusting things."  
Gil!" Matthew blushed, "Do you want to do this or not...?"  
"Matthew...you know I love you a lot. And you know that I want to do this a lot...I just...I don't want to screw up. You know me...I can't take anything seriously..."  
"You won't screw up. Just be Gilbert. My Gilbert. Ok?" Matthew gave him a reassuring smile and kissed him softly.  
The rest of the night became a series of nervous blushing. embarrassed giggles, loving kisses and warmth. It was hard for even them to tell what was going on...everything just kind of flowed in a perfectly unsynchronized way. Discovering and testing what each other liked and didn't like. It was simple...just as both of them wanted to be. And as much as both of them wanted to describe it as the best night of their lives because of the intense pleasure and how hot it was...they couldn't. In all honesty it was awkward, messy and a bit painful. They had spent a while bickering over who was going to bottom until Matthew finally agreed to do it. The inexperience they both shared made things hurt a little more than they should have and made things a lot more embarrassing and fumbled.  
But...it was the best night of their lives for completely different reasons...it was the best night because now they were so much closer. Now they had finally done it... and they had both loved all of it despite every fumble and flaw their first time had. It was amazing simply and purely because even though it could have gone a lot better...it was amazing. And whenever Gilbert tried to apologize for not being that great the first time... Matthew would just smile and tell him it was ok because he was happy to be the very first...and only person to see Gilbert like he was. And now they would only get better.  
First times weren't meant to be rough and passionate and full of pleasure...sure they _could_ be. But in Matthew's opinion...the awkward mess of being tangled together, giggling at the noises each other made...and finding pleasure purely in the fact that they loved each other enough to do this...was way better than any passionate one night stand in the world.  
"I love you Gilbert...even though we fail at sex..."  
"I love you too Matthew...even though we totally fail at sex..."  
They both laughed and spent the whole night of their first Christmas together...together.

* * *

**My note to you!:  
HELLO GORGEOUS PEOPLE.  
Crap I'm sorry this is late...I have been super duper super busy and stuff...this chapter was actually supposed to be twice as long as it is but I felt so bad for not having it written in time that I decided to just split it up. So there will still be a new chapter on friday in addition to this one.  
But anygays...THEY DID IT THEY BANGED. I'm trying to keep it pretty PG for now because I really don't want to focus too too much on the sexual side of their relationship...but I'm thinking about raising the rating to M for a later chapter. Let me know what you think? Do you guys want prucan smut?  
But yeah. Thank you thank you THANK YOU for being patient and awesome and reviewing and all that!  
See you hopefully on friday!**


	15. 14 - Don't Leave

"Baise-moi..."  
"MATTHIEU!" Francis smacked Matthew in the back of the head for being so vulgar. Matthew had a habit of swearing in French and normally no one noticed but now that Francis was around it was pretty hard to get away with it. Though Matthew had a good reason for swearing this time.  
"Well what do you guys think? Awesome or what!?"  
"G-Gil you look...wow..." Matthew was having an even harder time formulating words than usual. They were all getting ready to go to a new years party and Gil was taking ages to get ready because he 'had to look his awesomest!' and fuck...he did. He was wearing a red dress shirt with a few buttons down and black suit, his hair was slicked back with a few stray pieces hanging down. He had on a hint of eyeliner and was smirking like...well...Gilbert.  
"You look fucking amazing too Syrup." Gilbert grinned and kissed him lightly. "Everyone ready to go?"  
"Oui!"  
"Si!"  
"HELLS YEAH!"  
"I suppose..."  
"Yeah...We're ready." Matthew smiled and slid his hand into Gilbert's and squeezed it.  
"Alright! Awesome let's go!" Gilbert grinned and began to lead them out the door. They were going to a huge nightclub celebrity hangout for New Years. Gilbert had managed to get all of them on the list for the club. They got there and Alfred was immediately at the bar ordering every fancy drink he possibly could for him and Arthur. Gilbert dragged Matthew onto the dance floor even though Matthew insisted he couldn't dance to fast paced music like this. Francis took to hitting on anyone that would give him the time and Antonio talked to random people about how great he thought New York was.  
The club was dark and crowded with celebrities and the amped up bass-lines of songs. Matthew was pulled up close to Gilbert as they danced. It would be a blatant lie to say Matthew wasn't enjoying every second of being pressed up to Gilbert and being forced by the crowd around them to grind up against him.  
"Hey! Potato eater!" Someone shoved Gilbert causing him to fall against Matthew. He immediately grinned and spun around.  
"Lovi! I didn't know you were going to be here tonight man!" Gilbert grinned and gave Lovi a hug. Matthew raised an eyebrow at the thought that this guy looked a lot like Feliciano from high school.  
"Yeah I thought I'd stop by. There's a shit ton of cast members here tonight. Word is, your brother is even here!"  
"...My brother is here...?" Gilbert murmured. He hadn't seen his brother since graduation and frankly, he didn't care to. Gilbert had finally made a name for himself and he didn't need his brother going and being a bigger star than him all over again. He still had one more year of high school left and surely he would be valedictorian and win every one of the awards there was to win.  
"You actually look a bit like your brother with your hair all slicked back like that!" Lovi laughed before seeing someone he knew and walking off. He was quickly stopped by Antonio though who started to flirt with him. Antonio was quickly kneed in the balls.  
"Hahah...Gil did you see th-...Gil? Gil!?" Matthew looked around and Gil was no where to be found. Matthew was now alone on the middle of the dance floor surrounded by people attempting to grope and grind with him. Matthew finally managed to find a way out of the crowd to look for Gilbert. He finally found him in the bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror. Matthew took his hand carefully.  
"Hey...are you ok...? You just kinda left..." Matthew murmured. The bass from the music managed to echo and boom into the walls of the bathroom faintly. They were alone in there at that point, making it easy for Matthew to slip his arm around Gilbert's.  
"...Do you think that my brother is better than me...?"  
"What...?"  
"You know...my brother has always gotten more screen time than me. Always gotten more attention and love than me...he's always front and centre when some people forget I even exist..." Gil murmured, staring down at his hands.  
"Gil what are you saying...? All of this...this is your dream! Being famous...people paying attention to you. Your Stars is just the first step and look how famous you already are! Plus you have that movie role coming up! And an audition for the lead in that horror movie! You're doing so well...and I only have 4 years of university and then I'll move back here with you ok? I don't care about your brother Gil...I love you..." Matthew squeezed his arm and did his best to reassure him.  
"...I love you too syrup." Gilbert smiled softly.  
"Now...as sexy as you look right now. I see what you're trying to do." Matthew ran his fingers through Gilbert's hair and messed it up so the gel loosened and his hair fell in front of his eyes in messy tufts. "You don't need to look like your brother. I like you the way you are ok?" Matthew smiled and moved his hair away from his forehead before he went on his tip toes to kiss Gil's forehead.  
"You thought I was sexy?" Gilbert smirked.  
"Oh shut up." Matthew blushed and punched his arm. "You know I always do..."  
Very suddenly, Matthew was pinned to the bathroom wall by Gilbert.  
"Oh you do...? So you think I'm sexy right now huh...?" Gilbert smirked and placed a hand on Matthews hip and his other hand rested on his shoulder.  
"Gil I'm not having sex with you in a nightclub bathroom ten minutes before midnight!" Matthew looked away and blushed heavily.  
"Well who said anything about sex! I just want to make out a little is all..." A grin spread across Gilbert's face before he kissed Matthew slowly.  
"Mm...Mmhm... Gil...Gil. It's almost midnight...we should get back out there. Then we can go home and make out on our giant polar bear as much as you want ok?" Matthew giggled and kissed Gilbert's nose before taking his hand and dragging him towards the door as Gilbert groaned.  
"But I wana make out with you nowwwwww!"  
"Well come dance with me again then!" They left the bathroom and Gilbert happily went back to the dance floor with his boyfriend where they began to move and grind against each other to the rhythm of the music. 10 minutes went by pretty quickly. Soon enough everyone was counting down the last 10 seconds of the year. Matthew didn't get the chance to yell out 'Happy New Year!' along with everyone else because Gilbert was sure to get a midnight kiss from Matthew. No complaints from him of course.  
Over all, New Years was pretty amazing. Spending it with closed friends and loved ones. Gilbert got to meet up with a few of his costars and other celebrities and directors. Everyone was happy and having fun...Gilbert watched Matthew smile and laugh the whole night and it only made him more and more sad that he would be going back to Canada in just a few days.

"M-Matthew!" Gilbert cried and grabbed Matthews hand when he stood up to leave the room. They had gotten home at around 2am and did what Matthew promised. They just laid on Gilbear the polar bear and talked about everything they could until they ran out of words and took to kissing instead.  
"I'm just going to the kitchen to get a drink...want anything...?" Matthew murmured, wondering why Gilbert seemed so distressed by him leaving.  
"P-Please...don't go again." It was plain to see that Gilbert wasn't just talking about Matthew going from the bedroom to the kitchen.  
"Gil..." Matt knelt in front of Gilbert and held his hand in both of his. "I'm not going far...you know that."  
"...I don't care how far it is Matthew! I...I don't want you to go anywhere at all...! I-I want...I want you to stay here with me...why do you have to go..." Matthew had never heard Gilbert's voice so weak before. It was like he lost every shred of confidence he had. Matthew could help but be reminded of the first time they kissed. How desperate Gilbert seemed to hide how he really felt... how Gilbert crumbled at the mere thought of Matthew denying him. Matthew tilted his chin up so he could look into his eyes.  
"Hey...you know I have to go to school. And as long as you keep buying me plane tickets...I'll always come right back to you on every single break I get. You know that... You know that I'm in love with you and you know I'm always just a skype call away if you need me..."  
"That's not good enough! Th-That...a-a skype call doesn't let me touch you or...or make sure you...you don't find someone better than me!"  
"Gilbert is that what you're worrying about!? Me cheating on you!? Gil you do realize that I get locked out of my dorm almost everynight because the guy I live with forget he has a roommate! And my Professors forget about me... Gilbert you...you're the only person who even knows I'm alive...you think I'd cheat on you...?" Matthew's eyes read nothing but pure hurt.  
"No I...Matthew that's not what I meant I...what if someone comes along who notices you...like I did and...that person is close to you. They aren't all the way in New York..."  
"Gilbert...I didn't fall in love with you just because you noticed me. I fell in love with you because you make me laugh, you're loud and don't care what people think of you...because any publicity is good publicity to you." Matthew smiled and hugged Gilbert tight. "I love you because I can tell you anything and trust you...you're hot and you think I'm hot. You're absolutely batshit insane and you add some of that insanity to my boring life. I never thought I'd slow dance at a WWF fundraiser or grind with someone at a nightclub with Daft Punk up on stage DJing. I did all that crazy stuff because of you...because I love you."  
"Oh..."  
"Yeah, oh." Matthew sighed. "Besides it's you I'm worried about...you're getting all famous and stuff and...well...I'm scared you'll get too good for me. I-I mean...you get to do sex scenes and screen kisses on TV and movies and stuff...with...with pretty girls and buff guys...why would you need me anymore...I'm scared that one day...you just...won't pick up when I call because you're with someone else..." Matt went a deep shade of red and hid his face on Gilbert's shoulder.  
"Syrup...I...Why have you never said anything? This has obviously been bothering you..." Gilbert sighed and moved so Matthew was sitting on his lap and hugging him close.  
"N-No it's fine...just...as long as you promise you'll always love me and you'll call me everyday ok?"  
"Course I will syrup..I love you..."  
"But Gilbert...you have to promise me that if...if you ever love someone else...don't feel bad about it ok..? Just end things with me if you need to ok?"  
"Matthew don't fucking talk like that..." Gilbert spoke bluntly. He flipped them so Matthew was pinned beneath him. There were tears welled up in Gilbert's dull red eyes as he looked down at Matthew. "D-Don't fucking talk like I'm just with you because we were paired together in some drama project in high school! I-I love you goddamnit and I don't want you to leave me!"  
"Oh...Gil." Matthew was out of words to say. He had never been loved like this before. And now he could tell Gilbert had never been loved like this before either. So instead of spouting apologies and I love you's...Matthew just said what came to his mind. "How about we spend my last day here just in pyjamas...on the couch watching Shakespeare plays...? How's that sound? We can start with the Merchant of Venice...and then we'll just make out for the rest of the day ok? Maybe we can even do more than that..." Matthew smiled and hugged Gilbert close.  
"...I just want you to stay here..."  
"Just 4 years Gil...then I'll stay with you forever..."  
"Forever? Awesome..."  
"Yeah...Awesome. I love you Gilbert."

* * *

**My note to you! :  
Cute huh? Sad Gil though :C I understand that this chapter was very very very fast paced and I kind of just whizzed through everything that happened. It's just because none of this really really really matters storyline wise...I just hate leaving gaps in plot and stuff.  
Anyways. Next chapter will most likely be looking into exactly what happened on New Years with all the other guys at the club... Lovi and Antonio? Alfred and Arthur? Francis and...everyone? And someone said Ludwig was there! Was he there? Who knows! I do!  
Anyways as always I thank you dearly for your support and I wish you the happiest of days! Goodnight all!  
See ya! **


	16. 15 - Go Away

_'Hey this is the awesome Gilbert! I'm busy being awesome but you can leave me a message or something and I might call you back if you sound awesome enough to talk to me! Hahahahahahah!'_

"Hi Gil...it's Matthew uhm...I just thought I'd call because uh...it's been a week since we've talked! You're probably really busy with filming and stuff but I just want to say...I still love you more than anything and I can't wait to see you again... it's not long until I graduate huh...? Just another year after this one...hopefully I can come and see you this spring break...wow. Can you believe this will be our 3rd Spring break together...? Well anyways...I better go. Call me back ok? I love you."

.

_'Hey this is the awesome Gilbert! I'm busy being awesome but you can leave me a message or something and I might call you back if you sound awesome enough to talk to me! Hahahahahahah!'_

"Hey...me again. I'm beginning to think you've forgotten about me...Gil is there something you're not telling me? If you don't want me to come home for Spring Break just tell me ok? It's not like I care..."

.

_'Hey this is the awesome Gilbert! I'm busy being awesome but you can leave me a message or something and I might call you back if you sound awesome enough to talk to me! Hahahahahahah!'_

"Gil! Seriously! It's been two weeks since you've even said a word to me! Just...just fucking call me ok!? If you're breaking up with me just d-do it! I don't care anymore!"

.

"Hey this is the awesome Gilbert! I'm busy being awesome but leave me a message or something and I'll call you back if you sound awesome enough to talk to me! Hahah!"

"...Gil...please call me...I miss you. If you're s-"  
"Hahahahahahaha you actually fell for that! Syrup that wasn't my voicemail that was me!" Gilbert cackled and Matthew was almost tempted to hang up.  
"Gilbert! I've been calling you for two weeks and that's how you fucking answer me!?" Matthew had never been more mad at Gilbert.  
"Y'know it's pretty hot when you swear."  
"Gilbert this isn't a fucking game!" Matthew was crying now, his voice cracked and sobbed every other word, "Y-You haven't said a word to me in two weeks! You...You promised to always notice me! You promised me that you'd see me no matter what a-and you just...just abandoned me Gilbert! I know y-you're busy but is it too much to ask for you to f-fucking TEXT ME!? Y-You promised to be the one that sees me! The one that remembers me! You promised!" Matthew sobbed.  
"Syrup..."  
"Don't use th-that fucking name with me! I-I hate you a-and your g-goddamn nicknames! And jokes and...and stupid sm-smiles and...your fucking 'awesome' everything! F-Fuck you! Gilbert f-fuck you!"  
"Matthew! I-"  
"Not a word..! F-For two weeks! T-Two weeks!" Matthew sobbed.  
"...I'm sorry."  
"B-Bullshit! Y-You were probably f-fucking Meena!"  
"Mattie...will you listen to me for 2 seconds!?" Gilbert sighed.  
"N-No!" Matthew screamed and hung up, immediately throwing himself onto his bed and sobbing into his pillow. Spring break started tomorrow and it looked like he wouldn't be going anywhere at all. He didn't want to break up with Gilbert but...he had straight up abandoned him for 2 entire weeks. Maybe that shouldn't have been to big a deal but...not even a text? Not even an apology? Just a stupid voicemail prank? Matthew had a right to be mad. He had been dating Gilbert for almost 3 years now and this is what he gets? So Matthew sobbed. Cried until his eyes had no more tears.

Matthew awoke the next morning to the immediate memory of his fight with Gilbert. Oh god. Was this it for them...? No... Matthew sat up from his bed and almost thought he was having some sort of crazed dream when he saw Gilbert sitting on the floor next to his bed, legs crossed, head down.  
"...G-Gil...?" Matthew whispered, was this some sick and twisted prank? Was Gilbert going to look up for Matthew to see that it was actually some horrific monster to jolt him awake from a nightmare?  
No. It was Gilbert, slowly looking up to reveal his tires, bloodshot eyes that had received no sleep. He looked up at Matthew as tears managed to force their way over the bags under his red eyes.  
"...Matthew...I'm so sorry..." His voice was like he had gargled gravel and his entire body looked weak. Matthew couldn't help it. No matter how mad he was at his boyfriend, seeing him like this tore him apart too much, he immediately hugged Gilbert close.  
"G-Gil you...you came all this way for me...?"  
"...you...you sounded like...you were dumping me..."  
"I-I...no...I was just...I was just mad Gil..." Matthew whispered, now sitting in his lap to hold him close, slipping his arms around Gilbert's waist.  
"...I'm sorry..." Gilbert's forehead rested against his shoulder as tears slipped down his cheeks. Matthew and Gilbert may have been together for a long time but Gilbert was still so insecure about showing any tears that weren't caused by laughing too hard.  
"Just...tell my why you didn't talk to me for t-two weeks..." Matthew was starting to cry now too. Great. If Alfred was here he'd probably just scream 'gaaaaaaay' or something. Matthew wanted to roll his eyes just thinking about it.  
"...I can't..." He whispered.  
"Gil. Just...just tell me."  
"I can't!"  
"G-Gil you're scaring me!" Matthew cried, moving away from him. Imagining the horrible things Gil could have done to betray him. What was it!? Did he cheat on him? Was he an alcoholic? Was he into drugs? Or...was he just bored with Matthew...?  
"Matthew if I tell you it will ruin everything!" Gilbert stood up and yelled, tears still lingering on his eyes and cheeks.  
"Well you _not_ telling me is ruining everything Gilbert..." Matthew sighed, his head was starting to spin. He had spoken louder than he had in a long time and now Gilbert was being stubborn.  
"...Matthew I swear it's nothing bad! Just please trust me! I-It was just one of my stupid pranks!" Gilbert cried. Big mistake. This made Matthew go simply livid.  
"Just a PRANK!? Y-You d-don't think I r-receive enough ABUSE at th-this school!? My PROFESSORS forget who I am! I don't h-have a single friend here G-Gilbert! A-And you th-thought...you thought I wanted to be ignored by my boyfriend too!? Even after I made you promise to never forget me! To always be the one who sees me!?" This was the loudest Gilbert had ever heard Matthew.  
"Syrup thats not what I meant!"  
"THEN WHY!? What reason could you POSSIBLY have for fucking ignoring me for 2 entire weeks!"  
"I-I can't!"  
"Well then I can't date you!"  
"M-Matthew..." Gilbert's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't be doing this.  
"I-If dating for th-three entire years isn't enough to get you to be honest with me...then...then what will be Gil!? What is it!? Did you cheat on me!? Are you bored of m-me!? Have you b-"  
"I was going to ask you to marry me." He interrupted quickly.  
"...Wh...what..." Matthew seemed to be frozen to his spot.  
"...I-I thought...it would be cute or...or funny or whatever if...if I didn't talk to you for a bit...to get you sort of worried that I was going to dump you and then...then ask you to marry me..." Gilbert sighed, bummed that his surprise was ruined.  
"...I-I'm...o-only...t-t-twenty-one!"  
"...So am I? Does it matter? Matthew we're young but...I love you. I want to marry you no matter what and...I just wanted to propose some way that was special...I suck at all this sentimental crap..." Gilbert mumbled, sitting on the bed.  
"A-Are...are you asking m-me...?"  
"Well I'm not asking now! You ruined it! Or...well I guess I ruined it... Fuck..."  
"...so...so I'm not aloud to answer..."  
"No." Gilbert snapped, he was tired, grouchy...and now a little bit depressed. Matthew sat on the bed next to him and seemed to turn back into his usual shy and awkward self. Now that he knew what was going on...he was fine. Better than fine.  
"Did you get me a ring and everything?" Matthew blushed.  
"What!? N-No! L-Like I would tell you...that..." Gilbert blushed even harder. "See now you have to wait until I ask again. And you're never aloud to speak of this. Ever."  
"Ok...sorry I yelled."  
"It's ok...I deserved it..." Gilbert mumbled.  
"So...when are you going to ask me to marry you...?" Matthew batted his eyelashes slightly.  
Gilbert was never going to hear the end of this one.  
"Shut up."  
"Shouldn't you be filming?"  
"Yep. Took the day off to see you. I'm awesome I know." Gilbert smirked.  
"So you can stay?"  
"Just for today yeah. But you'll be coming back to New York with me for spring break right?"  
"Mmhm. But you're here today."  
"Yeah. And?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow.  
"...and I don't have a roommate. Or any classes today." Matthew batted his eyelashes innocently.  
"You're such a slut y'know?" Gilbert cackled, kissing Matthew deeply.  
"...sorry." Matthew blushed.  
"Don't apologize...just come here." Gilbert grinned, climbing on top of Matthew.  
Things would be alright after all...more than alright.

* * *

**My note to you: **  
**DUDE. This one took a while. I've been busy. I am very sorry. I am even sorrier to say that updates MIGHT get even slower as...guess what...I go back to school on tuesday! ...Great. I have quite a lot of computer programming courses to do so I'll probably get bored during one of those and start writing. I also have World Religions with a man who has his doctorate in catholic theology so I will most likely get incredibly bored with that.  
Anyways. Next chapter will be side pairings. Yeah let's find out what them other guys are up to. It will be GerIta and USUK. Possibly Spamano. I duno. Look forward to it. **  
**For any of you that also follow 'Kiss Me, Don't Kill Me.' : I'M SUPER BEHIND. I'll post it eventually. I promise. **  
**Love, Me.**


	17. 16 - Alfred and Arthur

"You really should stop doing that you wanker. I swear you're going to bloody hurt yourself one day and when you do I'll be laughing my arse off at you." Arthur grumbled at Alfred, nothing unusual.  
"Hey Alfred, Hey Arthur…" Matthew smiled at his brother and his best friend.  
"Hey dude! Mattie you really should come sit with me at lunch sometime! You always seem so lonely back here bro!" Alfred spoke loudly.  
"Well he has awesome me to keep him company now!" Gilbert cackled, slapping Mattie on the back.  
"I'm sure he's simply overjoyed to have you…" Arthur rolled his eyes. "Alfred come on…you promised." Arthur tugged on the sleeve of Alfred's bomber jacket, signifying they had to leave. It was true...Alfred had been promising this for ages.  
"Oh! Right! Gotta go guys!" Alfred spun on his heel to leave. Gilbert quickly grabbed him.  
"Wait! How are you so happy! My brother has stolen your spotlight! Aren't you angry? Don't you want to be popular again?" Gilbert asked, Alfred had no clue why this kid seemed so desperate...or what the hell he was going on about...so he just chuckled.  
"I'm the hero! Hero's don't need recognition. Besides…" He glanced back at Arthur, "It's nice to be under the radar for once…I'll see you around…Gilbert right?" Alfred patted the albino's shoulder before running off with Arthur.  
They ran straight to their usual spot, the shady tree right at the back of the field. As soon as Alfred laid down to look up at the clouds, Arthur was on top of him.  
"Don't you bloody ignore me your insolent arse..." Arthur scowled.  
"Ignore you? Never!" Alfred laughed, snorting a little as he usually did.  
"Do you want to do this or not..." Arthur groaned.  
"Hell yes." Alfred grinned and pulled Arthur down and kissed him roughly. They had been doing this for a few months now. Alfred saw them as a...friends with benefits sort of deal. Arthur had never dated anyone before so he convinced himself it was for practice. So when he did find a girlfriend...he would be a good kisser.  
Alfred on the other hand was constantly being swarmed by girls and even guys that had the hots for him. It was a miracle that he was single. Well right now it was anyways...he had been dating people constantly for months until just recently he decided that he wasn't going to waste time with that sort of thing. He was going to wait for the right person to come along...fooling around with Arthur didn't count at all. He was just helping his buddy get some practice! Like the big hero he was!  
"Too much tongue..." Alfred murmured. "Ah...now not enough tongue..." He chuckled.  
"Oh piss off..." Arthur grumbled, blushing slightly. If he were to be completely honest...he had more than just a small crush on Alfred. He liked him more that anyone at the entire school probably did. He liked how childish he was...how Alfred didn't have a care in the world other than having fun. It was nice. It was a breath of fresh air from all of the other popular people who spent hours worrying about their outfits and hair and what other people thought of them.  
Arthur had met Alfred the way anyone in a clichéd love story would meet. Alfred was running down the hallway and ran straight into Arthur, causing him to drop all of his books. Alfred of course decided to be a hero and help him pick up all his books. And as soon as Al found out Arthur had a British accent, he decided that he would make the perfect side kick. And so their friendship began. Ever so slowly Arthur fell deeper and deeper for the loud American. Silently of course. Alfred was the loud one...he was actually the one that had suggested that they start their little friends with benefits deal.  
And that's how high school went. Quietly sneaking off when they could to fool around, hanging out almost everyday where Alfred was forced to study as he complained about how useless knowing 'x equals the opposite of b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus 4ac all over 2a' was. Which Arthur really couldn't complain about...the quadratic formula wasn't actually an everyday necessity. It was hard at first, Alfred being so popular and all. But as soon as those Beilschmidt brothers moved to town...the attention had been off of Alfred and on them. Well...on one of them anyways.  
"You guna come over later?" Alfred smiled.  
"Can't...working." Arthur muttered.  
"That blows." Alfred groaned, "Wana see the new Thor movie this weekend?"  
"You've seen it 6 times..." Arthur laughed.  
"Actually 7. Watched it last night. How about Guardians of the Galaxy."  
"I haven't watched that yet..." Arthur said softly, laying on the grass next to Al.  
"DUDE SERIOUSLY!? YOU GOTTA SEE IT! That's it. Your house. This weekend. I'll bring the DVD." Alfred laughed. And sure enough a few years later they were living together. Just as friends of course. Arthur quietly still crushing on his best friend. Stealing glances at him getting out of the shower, nonchalantly staring at his muscles as he worked out every other morning, smiling softly as he pretended to hate the way he chewed his food so goddamn loudly...everything he hated about Alfred slowly turned into things he loved to hate about him. Like that stupid piece of hair that had a mind of it's own. All Arthur wanted was to smooth it down or yank it out. But he didn't...he just looked at it with a slight smile dancing across his lips. Or the way he sometimes talked with a mouth full off food. At first it was annoying...but slowly Arthur found he was easily able to interpret what the loud American was saying around the food.  
Most of all Arthur had learned to live with his crush. Sure they fooled around with each other back in high school...but that didn't count. Alfred wasn't gay. Alfred knew Arthur was gay and he never seemed to mind. But the American was adamant that he himself, was straight as an arrow.

"DUDE!" Alfred jumped onto Arthur's bed.  
"What the hell!?" Arthur coughed as Alfred straddled his chest.  
"Guess what!? Mattie is going to come over for Christmas tomorrow! He's bringing Gil too! Remember Gilbert? From High School! He's totally like a freaking famous actor and stuff now!" Alfred grinned like the excited puppy he was.  
"Yes...yes Alfred for godsake yes I remember Gilbert... Was it really necessary to bludgeon me to death in the process of telling me this news?" He growled. "This is my first day off in months and you ruined my perfectly good extra few hours of sleep..."  
"You just look seriously hilarious when you're asleep man. I had to save you by waking you up!"  
"Splendid. I don't suppose you have ANY of your christmas shopping done do you?"  
"Nope! Not a single bit! Duh man! It's Christmas Eve! I'll do it all today! And you're going to come and help!" Alfred grinned, bouncing on top of Arthur to try and wake him up a bit more.  
"Alright Alright! Let me bloody get dressed and we'll go alright!?" Arthur grumbled.  
Alfred really did end up dragging Arthur all over New York all day. They went to the Toys R Us store in times square where Alfred made Arthur buy him 3 comic books and an Enderman plushie. Then they went to the M&M store where Alfred ate way more candy than any human being probably should have. Then they went to a little cafe in Brooklyn which Alfred swore had the best hot chocolate in the universe. (It actually was pretty good) and then they went to about a hundred other stores before Alfred finally ended up buying a present for Matthew. Arthur groaned basically the whole way but couldn't help but smile occasionally when he noticed how happy Alfred was looking at all of the stores. Being honest...he actually had a pretty good time with Alfred. How could he not...? He was with an excited puppy dog of a human being.  
Arthur basically passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was so damn tired from walking around all day. So tired, he barely noticed when Alfred climbed on top of him.  
"Pst. Artie. You awake?" He whispered.  
"Mmf..." A groan was the only answer Arthur was bothered enough to give.  
"...I love you." Alfred whispered.  
Arthur never heard him.  
Not that night anyways...but he would someday.  
And everyday after that.

* * *

**My note to you:  
I'M ALIVE. Sort of. Just tired out of my mind. Y'know how it is. School and all that.  
I was expecting to have an abundance of free time to be able to write in my computer programming class... And I was right. I have so much free time in that class it's not even funny. BUT I sit in a really awkward place right at the front of my class like right next to my teacher so like everyone can see my screen if they look so that would be really awkward if they were to see me writing gay fanfiction about anime characters.  
But anyways I apologize for taking so long...and it might be a while again before I post another chapter and I'm so sorry...but I'm so busy, y'know?  
And I apologize if you aren't a USUK shipper...some heavy stuff is about to go down on the PruCan side so I just needed a bit of a chapter break before I got into that. I just didn't want to write something serious while I'm so scatterbrained and tired. As soon as I've got my head on straight the PruCan will return.  
Oh! Also let me know if you want a GerIta chapter as well. I listen to you guys.  
But as always thanks a bundle for reviewing and being so patient!  
Hopefully see you soon!  
Bye Bye!**


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